Manulife Asset Management Announces Senior UK & Ireland Distribution Appointments

TORONTO and LONDON, May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife Asset Management said today that it has named Martin Powis and Alan Burnett to new distribution roles for the UK & Ireland, based out of the firm's London office. Mr. Powis has been appointed Head of Institutional Sales and Relationship Management. Mr. Burnett has been named Head of Wholesale Sales and Relationship Management. Both report to Claude Chene, Global Head of Distribution, and both appointments were effective May 2.

Mr. Powis oversees the development of relationships with corporate and public pension funds, while also working closely with Manulife Asset Management's global consultant relations team.

Mr. Burnett's role is to help build relationships with leading fund provider platforms and fund selectors at banks, wealth managers and family offices across the UK.

"We are pleased to welcome Alan and Martin to Manulife Asset Management as we develop our business in the UK and Ireland," said Mr. Chene.

"Martin is a highly experienced sales director with almost 20 years of expertise in fund management distribution. Over the course of his career, he has built a formidable track record in the UK pensions and insurance sectors and delivered impressive results with consultants. Alan's expertise and more than 25 years' experience of setting up UK wholesale businesses will be highly beneficial as we establish our footprint in this important market," Mr. Chene continued.    

"We look forward to their leadership as we build out our team with further appointments in the near future."

Most recently, Mr. Powis was Director of UK Institutional Sales at AXA Investment Management, covering corporate pension plans and third party insurance relationships. He has also held senior roles roles at DB Advisors, Ignis Asset Management and Gartmore Investment.

Prior to joining Manulife Asset Management, Mr. Burnett was with Lyxor, where he was building their alternatives and absolute return multi asset business in the UK wholesale market. Prior to that, he spent nine years at Martin Currie Investment Management as Head of UK Wholesale, having previously held senior UK sales roles at Liontrust Asset Management, AXA Asset Management and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Unit Trust Management.

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 (GBP£226 billion, EUR€285 billion, C$421 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.

SOURCE Manulife Asset Management

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