Manulife Asset Management Hires Ronald Chan as Head of Equities, Asia

HONG KONG, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife Asset Management today announces that it has appointed Ronald Chan as Senior Managing Director, Head of Equities, Asia, effective January 3, 2011. Based in Hong Kong, he will report locally to Michael Dommermuth, President and Head of Manulife Asset Management (Asia) and functionally to Boston-based Global Chief Investment Officer, Equities, Chris Conkey.  

Ronald joins with more than 16 years of equity management experience, including almost 10 years overseeing equity teams in Asia. His career spans fund management roles at Hambros Fund Management and Baring Asset Management in the UK and more recently Chief Investment Officer of Asian Equity roles at Fortis Investment Management in Shanghai and Hong Kong. He joins Manulife Asset Management from Pacific Eagle Asset Management where he was Deputy Chief Investment Officer.  

As Head of Equities, Asia, Ronald will manage a team of nine Hong Kong-based equity professionals across the company's Greater China and Asia Pacific equities teams and will oversee a regional team of more than 40 equity portfolio managers and analysts across Asia. He will work closely with the team of almost 40 Beijing-based equity professionals at the company's joint venture in China, Manulife TEDA Fund Management Company Ltd, as well as liaising directly with the company's equity teams in Europe and North America to feed Asia investment ideas into Manulife Asset Management's global equity portfolios.

Announcing the appointment, Michael Dommermuth said: "Ronald has generated an excellent track record over his career, delivering consistent outperformance across Asian strategies under his management. In his new role, he will focus on delivering strong performance in our regional equity strategies and connecting our on-the-ground equity teams across 10 locations in Asia to harness local market intelligence and investment ideas for our regional and global portfolios."

Ronald's Asia market experience includes particular expertise in Greater China equities, having set up an investment business in Shanghai during his time at Fortis Investment Management. This is an important market for Manulife Asset Management, which manages a number of successful Greater China equity strategies, including a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) China A share fund which was launched in 2010.

Chris Conkey explained: "We are seeing increased interest from institutional investors globally in Asia's exciting equity markets. In 2010 alone, we opened up China's domestic A share market to international clients through our QFII fund and tapped Asia's blossoming mid and small cap stock markets. Ronald's extensive expertise will be invaluable as we continue to focus on using our local information advantage to deliver strong, consistent equity performance for global investors."

Manulife Asset Management manages approximately US$11 billion in equities across Asia. The company has more than US$38 billion in assets under management in Asia, of which nearly US$13 billion is managed for external clients. Its Asian equity strategies include a range of regional strategies such as Greater China equities, Asia Pacific equities, Asia Mid and Small Cap equities as well as single country strategies across the region.

Notes to editors

AUM data is as of November 30, 2010.

About Manulife Asset Management  

Manulife Asset Management™ is the global asset management arm of Manulife Financial. Manulife Asset Management and its affiliates provide comprehensive asset management solutions for institutional investors and investment funds in key markets around the world. This investment expertise extends across a full range of asset classes including equity, fixed income and alternative investments such as real estate, timber, farmland, as well as asset allocation strategies.

Manulife Asset Management has offices with full investment capabilities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. In addition, it has a joint venture asset management business in China, Manulife TEDA. It also has operations in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay. As at September 30, 2010, assets under management for institutional clients were Cdn$121 billion (US$118 billion). Additional information about Manulife Asset Management can be found at ManulifeAM.com.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group operating in 22 countries and territories worldwide. For more than 120 years, clients worldwide have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most 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 around the world. We provide asset management services to institutional customers worldwide as well as reinsurance solutions, specializing in life and property and casualty retrocession. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$474 billion (US$460 billion) as at September 30, 2010. The Company operates as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

SOURCE Manulife Asset Management

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