Manulife changes mutual fund platform

Manulife Investments has announced a number of proposed changes to its mutual fund platform and to the Canadian Small Cap Equity team.

The proposed changes, which are subject regulatory and security holder approvals, include:

• merging funds;
• re-opening an existing closed fund to new purchases;
• changing the names of certain funds;
• changing the investment objectives of certain funds;
• closing certain funds to all purchases;
• adjusting the distribution policy for certain funds; and
• reducing the management fees for certain funds.

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Fund mergers

The proposed changes are designed to eliminate overlap and streamline Manulife’s platform for advisors and investors, the firm said in a release.

The Independent Review Committee of the funds has reviewed the proposed mergers and concluded that they achieve a fair and reasonable result for the impacted funds.

The security holders of the terminating funds will receive advance notice of the mergers or, in the case of those mergers that require security holder approval (including in some cases, the security holders of the continuing funds), a Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular, in accordance with applicable securities laws. The required security holder approvals will be sought at special meetings to be held on or about April 4 for security holders of record as of Feb. 20, 2018.

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Subject to those approvals, Manulife is proposing to merge the following funds on or about the close of business on April 20.

Terminating fund	Continuing fund
Manulife Asia Total Return Bond Fund	Manulife Global Tactical Credit Fund
Manulife U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Income Fund	Manulife U.S. Dollar Strategic Income Fund
Manulife Canadian Opportunities Balanced Class	Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class
Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Class	Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Class
Manulife Preferred Income Class	Manulife Dividend Income Class
Manulife Canadian Opportunities Class	Manulife Canadian Stock Class
Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Registered Fund	Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Fund

Manulife is also proposing to merge the following funds on or about the close of business on May 25.

Terminating fund	Continuing fund
Manulife Money Fund	Manulife Money Market Private Trust
Manulife Short Term Bond Fund	Manulife Money Market Private Trust
Manulife Canadian Corporate Bond Fund	Manulife Canadian Bond Plus Fund
Manulife High Yield Bond Fund	Manulife U.S. Tactical Credit Fund
Manulife Emerging Markets Debt Fund	Manulife Global Tactical Credit Fund
Manulife Canadian Opportunities Balanced Fund	Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Fund
Manulife Tactical Income Fund	Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class
Manulife Unhedged U.S. Monthly High Income Fund	Manulife U.S. Monthly High Income Fund
Manulife Conservative Income Fund	Manulife Yield Opportunities Fund
Manulife Canadian Opportunities Fund	Manulife Canadian Stock Fund
Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Class	Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Fund
Manulife Emerging Markets Class	Manulife Emerging Markets Fund
Manulife U.S. Fixed Income Private Trust	Manulife Global Fixed Income Private Trust

The risk rating of Manulife Preferred Income Class is low to medium and the risk rating of Manulife Dividend Income Class is medium. This merger will result in a risk rating increase to the security holders of Manulife Preferred Income Class.

In the event a merger would have resulted in a higher management fee for an investor, Manulife will instead honor the lower management fee and, if necessary, create additional series for the Continuing Fund to give effect to the lower management fee for units outstanding as of the effective date of the merger and the related automatic reinvestment of distributions for those units. No pre-authorized chequing plans will be re-established in the series created for grandfathering purposes.

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All terminating funds for the proposed April 20 mergers will be capped to new purchases and redemptions as of 4 p.m. on April 18 for wire orders over Fundserv and as of 4 p.m. on April 20 for direct orders to allow for the mergers to be processed. In addition, all terminating funds will be capped to switches and transfers over Fundserv as of 4 p.m. on April 19.

All terminating funds for the proposed May 25 mergers will be capped to new purchases and redemptions as of 4 p.m. on May 23, or on May 24 for the Manulife Money Fund, for wire orders over Fundserv and as of 4 p.m. on May 25 for direct orders to allow for the mergers to be processed. In addition, all terminating funds will be capped to switches and transfers over Fundserv as of 4 p.m. on May 24.

Portfolio manager update

Manulife Asset Management is merging its Canadian Small Cap Equity team with its Canadian Large Cap Growth team to form a single Canadian Growth team. Shauna Sexsmith, senior managing director and senior portfolio manager, will assume leadership responsibilities for the combined Canadian Growth team.

Read: BMO, Manulife adopt Alexa

Luciano Orengo, co-portfolio manager on Manulife Asset Management’s Canadian Small Cap strategies, will now become lead manager, replacing Ted Whitehead as head of the Canadian Small Cap strategies. Ted will be leaving the company as of Feb. 28, to pursue other opportunities.

Fund re-opening

The Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Fund will be re-opened to new investors on or about Jan. 31. The fund, managed by the Manulife Value Equity Team, was proactively capped to new investors on Jan. 25, 2016 as part of a business decision related to the integration with Standard Life.

Fund name changes

The following funds will change names effective on or about April 6.

Current fund name	New fund name
Manulife Money Market Private Trust*	Manulife Money Market Fund
Manulife Canadian Bond Plus Fund	Manulife Canadian Unconstrained Bond Fund
Manulife U.S. Tactical Credit Fund	Manulife U.S. Unconstrained Bond Fund
Manulife Global Tactical Credit Fund	Manulife Global Unconstrained Bond Fund
Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Fund	Manulife Fundamental Income Fund
Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class	Manulife Fundamental Income Class
Manulife Canadian Equity Balanced Class	Manulife Fundamental Balanced Class
Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Fund	Manulife Fundamental Dividend Fund
Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Class	Manulife Fundamental Dividend Class
Manulife Canadian Stock Fund	Manulife Fundamental Equity Fund
Manulife Canadian Stock Class	Manulife Fundamental Equity Class
Manulife Canadian Focused Fund	Manulife Dividend Income Plus Fund
Manulife Canadian Focused Class	Manulife Dividend Income Plus Class

*Subsequent to the May 25 merger involving this fund, it will no longer be considered part of Manulife Private Investments Pools.

Investment objective changes

Effective on or about April 6, subject to security holder approval to be obtained at a special meeting to be held on or about April 4, Manulife will change the investment objectives for the following funds:

• Manulife Dividend Income Private Pool
• Manulife Dividend Income Fund
• Manulife Dividend Income Class
• Manulife Canadian Focused Fund
• Manulife Canadian Focused Class
• Manulife Money Market Private Trust
• Manulife Canadian Bond Plus Fund
• Manulife Dollar Cost Averaging Fund

Funds and series closed

Series D of Manulife U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Income Fund along with Series T, FT, LT, C and CT of Manulife U.S. Fixed Income Private Trust will be capped effective on or about Jan. 17. Manulife Short Term Yield Class will be capped on or before April 6.

Distribution Changes

The following funds will change their distribution policies for series other than Series FT or Series T effective on or about the close of business on April 27.

Fund Name	Current	New
Manulife Canadian Bond Plus Fund	Quarterly	Monthly
Manulife Bond Fund	Quarterly	Monthly
Manulife U.S. Tactical Credit Fund	Fixed	Variable
Manulife Global Tactical Credit Fund	Fixed	Variable
Manulife Canadian Focused Fund	Variable/annual	Fixed/monthly
Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Fund	Variable/quarterly	Fixed/monthly

Management fee reductions

The following management fee reductions will be effective after the close of business on April 6 and are conditional on approval of each security holder vote.

Fund	Series affected	Fee reduction
Manulife Canadian Bond Plus Fund	Advisor Series; Series F and Series D	0.15% 0.10%
Manulife U.S. Tactical Credit Fund	Advisor Series and Series T Series F, Series FT and Series D	0.35% 0.05%
Manulife Global Tactical Credit Fund	Advisor Series and Series T	0.33%
Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Class	Advisor Series and Series T	0.06%
Manulife Canadian Focused Class	Series F, Series FT and Series D	0.07%
Manulife Canadian Focused Fund	Series F and Series FT	0.07%
Manulife Canadian Stock Class	Series F and Series FT	0.06%
Manulife Canadian Stock Fund	Series F and Series FT	0.06%
Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Fund	Advisor Series	0.04%