Manulife Asset Management names Chris Fellingham as Head of Liquid Alternative Strategies

LONDON, June 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife Asset Management, the investment management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation (TSX, NYSE: MFC), has named Chris Fellingham as Senior Managing Director, Head of Liquid Alternative Strategies. The appointment is effective June 13. Mr. Fellingham will report to Chris Conkey, Executive Vice President, Global CIO, Manulife Asset Management, and be based in London.

"We are pleased to welcome Chris to Manulife Asset Management. He brings significant expertise in liquid alternative investment strategies, a strong client-focus and decades of global asset management experience," said Mr. Conkey. "We created this new role to drive our growth strategy in liquid alternatives. Chris will play a significant role leading the expansion of our range of absolute return and outcome oriented capabilities, including stand-alone and multi-asset class strategy solutions, that we believe will meet the needs of institutional and wealth clients globally," Mr. Conkey added.

"We are seeing increasing client demand for strategies that can provide outcomes specific to their needs, with a critical focus on risk management," said Kai Sotorp, President and CEO, Manulife Asset Management. "Chris will make a strong contribution to developing this sought after and rapidly evolving market segment. Over the course of his career, Chris has successfully devised and delivered on a strategic expansion into liquid alternative strategies. The franchise Chris will develop will complement our strategic asset allocation business, managed by the Portfolio Solutions Group (PSG)." PSG manages traditional target date and target risk strategies, as well as alternatives solutions, overseeing £74 billion (C$135 billion) in AUM.

Most recently, Mr. Fellingham was Chief Investment Officer of Ignis Asset Management, which was acquired by Standard Life Investments Limited. Prior to that, he served as CEO and Partner of Soros Fund Management UK LLP. He also has held a series of leadership roles at Mercury Asset Management, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and BlackRock. Mr. Fellingham began his career at Royal Insurance Asset Management. He holds an honours bachelor degree in Mathematics from Manchester University.

*All figures as of March 31, 2016, unless otherwise noted.

About Manulife Asset Management

Manulife Asset Management is the global asset management arm of Manulife, providing comprehensive asset management solutions for investors. This investment expertise extends across a broad range of public and private asset classes, as well as asset allocation solutions. As at March 31, 2016, assets under management for Manulife Asset Management were approximately US$325 billion (€285 billion, £226 billion).

Manulife Asset Management's public markets units have investment expertise across a broad range of asset classes including public equity and fixed income, and asset allocation strategies. Offices with full investment capabilities are located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In addition, Manulife Asset Management has a joint venture asset management business in China, Manulife TEDA. The public markets units of Manulife Asset Management also provide investment management services to affiliates' retail clients through product offerings of Manulife and John Hancock. John Hancock Asset Management and Declaration Management and Research are units of Manulife Asset Management.

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

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 2015, we had approximately 34,000 employees, 63,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving 20 million customers.  At the end of March 2016, we had $904 billion (US$697 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $24.9 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.

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SOURCE Manulife Asset Management