To streamline and augment its fund offering, Manulife Mutual Funds, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, in turn a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC), decided on mergers and closures of several funds in October/November 2010.
The decision to streamline the fund mandates came on the back of a detailed review of all fund mandates following the acquisition of AIC Limited’s Canadian retail investment fund business in September 2009.
Earlier, on August 12, 2009, Manulife Financial inked a deal to acquire AIC Limited’s Canadian retail investment fund business. The transaction was closed in September 2009. Pursuant to the agreement, Manulife Mutual Funds would manage all AIC funds in Canada and AIC would continue to act as a fund sub-advisor for Manulife Mutual Funds.
The Independent Review Committee approved the consolidation of AIC Corporate Fund Inc. and Manulife Investment Exchange Funds Corp. into a single corporate entity. The consolidation will be effective from October 23, 2010, subject to security holder and regulatory approvals.
The Committee also approved Corporate Class mergers, Tax-Deferred Trust Fund mergers and Taxable Trust Fund mergers. The mergers will entail termination of certain funds.
Additionally, the company also announced the closure of a few funds. Fund Closures include Manulife Leaders Income and Manulife U.S. Money Market Fund (formerly AIC U.S. Money Market Fund).
In a separate development, Manulife Mutual Funds also added six new funds to its mutual funds portfolio. The new funds will be available in Canada. The new funds comprise three new income funds, two new Canadian equity funds and one new Canadian balanced fund.
The company has renamed a number of existing funds by removing AIC and Mawer names from the applicable fund names.
The company changed the portfolio management responsibilities for two funds (effective September 1, 2010, the portfolio management for the Manulife Canadian Core Fund and Manulife Canadian Core Class will change to Ted Whitehead from Pat McHugh) and sub-advisor responsibilities for one fund (effective December 1, 2010, the portfolio sub-advisor of Manulife Japan Class will change from Manulife Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong, China to MFC Global Investment Management (Japan) Limited in Tokyo, Japan).
The company renamed the legal entity, which operates Manulife Mutual Funds. Effective December 1, 2010, the name of the legal entity Elliott & Page Limited will change to Manulife Asset Management Limited.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Manulife Financial through its subsidiaries operates as a life insurance company. The company also offers reinsurance services. The company operates as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States.
We currently maintain a “Neutral” recommendation on Manulife Financial. The quantitative Zacks #4 Rank (short-term Sell rating) for the company indicates downward directional pressure on the shares over the near term.
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