Manulife Investments Announces Results of Special Meetings of Securityholders and Lowers Risk Rating on Two Funds

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TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2015 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments today announced the receipt of the required approvals from securityholders to proceed with the previously announced mutual fund corporation amalgamation, mutual fund mergers and changes in the investment objective of certain mutual funds. Manulife Investments also announced that it will lower the risk rating on two Standard Life branded mutual funds and rename certain other Standard Life branded mutual funds.

The mutual fund corporation amalgamation is expected to take effect on or about November 21, 2015.

Approvals for investment objective changes were received for the following funds as outlined in the Management Information Circular dated October 13, 2015. These changes are expected to take effect on or about January 4, 2016:

Manulife Value Fund
Manulife U.S. Opportunities Class
Standard Life Emerging Markets Dividend Fund

Applicable securityholders of each of the following terminating and/or continuing funds have provided their approval of the applicable fund mergers:

Terminating Fund	Continuing Fund	Merger Date - On or about:
Standard Life Balanced Fund	Manulife Canadian Opportunities Balanced Fund	March 11, 2016
Manulife U.S. Large Cap Equity Fund	Manulife U.S. All Cap Equity Fund	March 11, 2016
Standard Life U.S. Equity Value Class	Manulife U.S. All Cap Equity Class	March 11, 2016
Manulife U.S. Large Cap Equity Class	Manulife U.S. All Cap Equity Class	March 11, 2016
Manulife Special Opportunities Class	Manulife U.S. All Cap Equity Class	March 11, 2016
Standard Life Short Term Bond Fund	Manulife Short Term Bond Fund	April 15, 2016
Standard Life Global Bond Fund	Manulife Strategic Investment Grade Global Bond Fund	April 15, 2016
Standard Life Canadian Equity Fund	Standard Life Dividend Income Fund	April 15, 2016
Standard Life Emerging Markets Debt Fund	Manulife Emerging Markets Debt Fund	April 15, 2016
Standard Life European Equity Fund	Manulife World Investment Fund	April 15, 2016
Manulife Canadian Conservative Balanced Fund	Standard Life Diversified Income Fund	April 15, 2016
Standard Life Canadian Equity Value Fund	Manulife Dividend Income Fund	April 15, 2016
Standard Life Short Term Yield Class	Manulife Short Term Yield Class	May 27, 2016
Standard Life Corporate Bond Class	Standard Life Corporate Bond Fund	May 27, 2016
Standard Life Canadian Bond Class	Manulife Bond Fund	May 27, 2016
Standard Life Conservative Portfolio Class	Standard Life Conservative Portfolio	May 27, 2016
Standard Life Moderate Portfolio Class	Standard Life Moderate Portfolio	May 27, 2016

Notwithstanding the receipt of the requisite securityholder approval,the mergers of Manulife U.S. Large Cap Equity Fund, Manulife U.S. Large Cap Equity Class, Manulife Special Opportunities Class, Standard Life Canadian Equity Fund, Standard Life European Equity Fund, Manulife Canadian Conservative Balanced Fund, Standard Life Canadian Equity Value Fund, Standard Life Corporate Bond Class, Standard Life Canadian Bond Class, Standard Life Conservative Portfolio Class, and Standard Life Moderate Portfolio Class  also require the approval of the Canadian securities regulators before such mergers may be effected.  Although no assurance can be provided, Manulife Investments expects that such approvals will be received.

The quorum requirement was not met for Standard Life Global Equity Class and Standard Life Emerging Markets Dividend Class. As a result, these meetings have been adjourned to November 12, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. (EST).  The meetings will be held at the offices of Manulife Asset Management Limited, in the Ross ABC Room, 200 Bloor Street East, South Tower, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1E5.

Manulife Investments today also announced a change in the risk rating for Standard Life Canadian Small Cap and Standard Life Global Bond Fund. These changes will be reflected in the simplified prospectus of the funds which will be filed with Canadian securities regulators on or about November 9, 2015 in connection with the funds' 2015 annual renewal. No material changes have been made to the investment objectives, strategies or management of these funds. The Investment Funds Institute of Canada established guidelines for determining risk ratings based primarily upon the variability of returns for a mutual fund. Based on these guidelines, Manulife Investments determined it was prudent to change the risk rating for the following funds in the following manner:

Fund Name	Previous risk rating	Revised Risk Rating
Standard Life Canadian Small Cap Fund	High	Medium to High
Standard Life Global Bond Fund	Medium	Low to Medium

 

As part of integration, the following funds will join the Manulife Investments mutual fund platform and will be renamed as follows, such changes, except as indicated below, will be reflected in the abovementioned simplified prospectus which will be filed with Canadian securities regulators on or about November 9, 2015:

Previous Fund Name	New Fund Name
Standard Life Aggressive Portfolio	Manulife Portrait Aggressive Portfolio
Standard Life Canadian Dividend Growth Class	Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Class
Standard Life Canadian Dividend Growth Fund	Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Fund
Standard Life Conservative Portfolio	Manulife Portrait Conservative Portfolio
Standard Life Corporate Bond Fund	Manulife Canadian Corporate Bond Fund
Standard Life Diversified Income Fund	Manulife Conservative Income Fund
Standard Life Dividend Growth & Income Portfolio	Manulife Portrait Dividend Growth & Income Portfolio
Standard Life Dividend Growth & Income Portfolio Class	Manulife Portrait Dividend Growth & Income Portfolio Class
Standard Life Dividend Income Class	Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Class
Standard Life Dividend Income Fund	Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Fund
Standard Life Emerging Markets Dividend Class	Manulife Emerging Markets Class
Standard Life Emerging Markets Dividend Fund	Manulife Emerging Markets Fund
Standard Life Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund	Manulife Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund*
Standard Life Global Dividend Growth Class	Manulife Global Dividend Growth Class
Standard Life Global Dividend Growth Fund	Manulife Global Dividend Growth Fund
Standard Life Global Equity Class	Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Class
Standard Life Global Equity Fund	Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Fund
Standard Life Global Real Estate Fund	Manulife Global Real Estate Unconstrained Fund
Standard Life Growth Portfolio	Manulife Portrait Growth Portfolio
Standard Life Growth Portfolio Class	Manulife Portrait Growth Portfolio Class
Standard Life Moderate Portfolio	Manulife Portrait Moderate Portfolio
Standard Life Monthly Income Class	Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class
Standard Life Monthly Income Fund	Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Fund
Standard Life Tactical Income Fund	Manulife Tactical Income Fund
Standard Life U.S. Dividend Growth Fund	Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Fund
Standard Life U.S. Monthly Income Fund	Manulife Unhedged U.S. Monthly High Income Fund

*This fund is offered to eligible investors under an offering memorandum.

For more information, please visit manulifemutualfunds.ca or contact Manulife Investments at the following telephone numbers:

English: 1-888-588-7999
French: 1-877-426-9991

About Manulife Investments
Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, builds on 125 years of Manulife's wealth and investment management expertise in managing assets for Canadian investors. As one of Canada's leading integrated financial services providers, Manulife Investments offers a variety of products and services including segregated fund contracts, mutual funds, annuities and guaranteed interest contracts.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group providing forward-thinking solutions to help people with their big financial decisions.  We operate as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere.  We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions.  At the end of 2014, we had 28,000 employees, 58,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving 20 million customers.  At the end of June 2015, we had $883 billion (US$708 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $22 billion in benefits, interest and other payments to our customers.  Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years.  With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.  Follow Manulife on Twitter @ManulifeNews or visit www.manulife.com or www.johnhancock.com.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation

Media contact:
Bev MacLean
Manulife
416-852-8501
[email protected]
@ManulifeNews