Manulife Investment Management Announces Forest Climate Fund's Second Close Bringing Total Commitments Up to $334.5 Million

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Apr 26, 2024, 09:03 ET

BOSTON, April 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Investment Management, the world's largest manager of natural capital with over $16 billion in assets under management in timberland and agriculture combined, today announced the second close of the Manulife Forest Climate Fund LP^1,2(the fund). Along with its affiliated offshore vehicles, the fund has now secured up to $334.5 million in commitments towards its $500 million targeted offering. Subsequent and final closings are expected later this year. The fund is a closed-end investment vehicle providing qualified U.S. investors and certain global institutional investors with the opportunity to promote climate change mitigation through investment in sustainably managed forests where carbon sequestration is prioritized over timber production.

The Manulife Forest Climate Fund seeks to provide investors with an opportunity to own a diversified portfolio of sustainably-managed forestland assets where carbon is the primary value driver. The fund will seek to deliver durable, high-quality carbon credits to investors and annual optionality for in-kind carbon credit distributions or offset sales.³ An additional part of this strategy includes establishing new forests through afforestation or reforestation to generate high-quality carbon credits and long-term sustainable timber value. The fund intends to use carbon credits, conservation easements, value-added strategies including non-timber income generation, and limited timber harvests to capture potential climate benefits, and promote biodiversity, ecosystem resiliency, and watershed protection and to generate competitive financial returns for investors.⁴

"We have seen strong interest in the forest climate fund strategy from a broad base of investors - including the first corporate investors - in this close. We believe we offer an innovative strategy for investors seeking a differentiated solution for net zero goals and climate change mitigation," said Tom Sarno, global head of timberland investments, Manulife Investment Management. "We have already started to deploy the fund's capital into timberland assets aligned with the fund's objectives and have built a strong pipeline of opportunities. We look forward to creating a diversified portfolio of sustainably – managed assets where carbon value is the primary driver of potential return through high integrity carbon insets or offsets."

"We believe that Manulife Forest Climate Fund allows for a degree of optionality that clients may be looking for in a natural capital solution," added Eric Cooperstrom, managing director, impact investing and natural climate solutions, Manulife Investment Management. "This brings additional opportunity to investors as they can rely on our experience to access a scaled solution that can help support their climate goals through carbon insets or offset sales while creating additional value from sustainable traditional timber economics and practices."

Manulife Investment Management oversees approximately 5.4 million acres of timberland across the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and Chile and 100% of those forests are certified under either the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) or the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®). It also manages approximately 400,000 acres of prime farmland in major agricultural regions of the United States and in Canada, Chile, and Australia as part of its comprehensive private markets strategies. Its entire U.S. agriculture platform is certified to the Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard demonstrating a commitment to sustainable practices, robust management, and continuous improvement.

1. IPE research as of 1/29/2024. Ranking is based on total Natural Capital AUM, which includes forestry/timberland and agriculture/farmland AUM. Firms were asked to provide AUM and the as of dates vary from 12/31/2022 to 12/31/2023.

2. Manulife Forest Climate Fund is structured as a private offering only for qualified purchasers to be conducted pursuant to Rule 506(c) of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act.

3. Manulife Investment Management, through its development and implementation of its Carbon Principles, has made a commitment to sourcing high-quality carbon credits. Generally high-quality carbon credits must be (a) additional, (b) not overestimated, (c) permanent, (d) exclusively claimed (no double counting) and (e) not associated with significant social or environmental harm. For more information on the Carbon Principles please visit our website. In addition, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Markets (IC-VCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and Assessment Framework are intended to establish global standards for high-quality voluntary market carbon credits, provide guidance on how to apply the Core Carbon Principles and define which carbon crediting programs and project methodologies are eligible. The MIMTA Carbon Principles are aligned with the ICVCM CCPs.

4. There is no guarantee that this fund will achieve its investment objectives or goals, or generate carbon credits or financial returns.

This press release is targeted to U.S. qualified purchasers. It does not constitute an advertisement or an offer to sell any security or the solicitation of any offer to buy an interest in the fund or any existing or future fund or investment vehicle managed or advised by Manulife Investment Management and/or its affiliates or any other security. Nor shall there be any sales of the fund interests in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sales would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

The fund interests will be offered only to "qualified purchasers" as defined by Section 2(a)(51) of the Investment Company Act and in reliance on the exemption from registration set forth in Rule 506(c) of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act. Under Rule 506(c), general solicitation of offerings is permitted, however, prospective investors in the fund may be asked to provide supporting documentation satisfactory to the general partner of a prospective investor's status as a qualified purchaser. The fund has not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold without registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities or blue sky laws and foreign securities laws.

The fund will be distributed in the United States by John Hancock Investment Management Distributors LLC, member FINRA, a Manulife IM affiliate.

Private market investments are speculative and considered risky, including potential loss of your investment, and may not be appropriate for every investor. Private investments are generally an illiquid asset class; shareholders cannot sell their funds when they want to without potentially facing high losses.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. Our mission is to make decisions easier and lives better by empowering investors for a better tomorrow. Serving more than 17 million individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members, we believe our global reach, complementary businesses, and the strength of our parent company position us to help investors capitalize on today's emerging global trends. We provide our clients access to public and private investment solutions across equities, fixed income, multi-asset, alternative, and sustainability-linked strategies, such as natural capital, to help them make more informed financial decisions and achieve their investment objectives. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

SOURCE Manulife Investment Management