TORONTO, March 30, 2015 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, announced that effective today, portfolio management responsibilities for Manulife Preferred Income Class (the "Fund") will change with the appointment of a co-lead for the Fund.

Richard Cortese, Managing Director, Canadian Fixed Income, Manulife Asset Management (MAM) will assume duties as co-lead. Richard's investment team will include Roshan Thiru and Altaf Nanji, both Managing Directors at MAM. Terry Carr, Senior Managing Director and Head of Canadian Fixed Income at MAM will continue to co-lead the Fund. The Fund's objective and strategy of offering exposure to a portfolio primarily consisting of Canadian preferred shares will remain the same.

Richard Cortese plays an active, senior role in a significant proportion of the Canadian Fixed Income team's fixed income products. He is responsible for developing investment strategy with a focus on corporate debt.

Terry Carr has over 25 years of experience as an investment professional and is a senior member of the Manulife Asset Management Investment Committee.

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 Asset Management
Manulife Asset Management is the global asset management arm of Manulife, providing comprehensive asset management solutions for institutional investors and investment funds in key markets around the world. This investment expertise extends across a broad range of public and private asset classes, as well as asset allocation solutions. As at December 31, 2014, assets under management for Manulife Asset Management were approximately C$321 billion (US$277 billion).

Additional information about Manulife Asset Management may be found at ManulifeAM.com.

About Manulife
Manulife is a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. We operate as John Hancock in the U.S. and as Manulife in other parts of the world. We provide strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for our customers' significant financial decisions. Our international network of employees, agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to millions of clients. We also provide asset management services to institutional customers. Assets under management by Manulife and its subsidiaries were approximately C$691 billion (US$596 billion) as at December 31, 2014.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife can be found on the Internet at manulife.com

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation