2010 News Releases

Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) is pleased to announce that the Manulife Emerging Market High Yield Bond Fund has been approved as a securities investment trust fund by the Taiwanese regulator and will be available for offering on September 15. The fund invests in emerging high yield bonds to maximize its risk-adjusted return from a combination of interest income and long-term capital appreciation. It is only the second such fund to be available in the Taiwan market.

The Manulife Emerging Market High Yield Bond Fund will primarily invest in corporate bonds with superior credit quality and growth potential. It focuses on bonds in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions which comprises some of the most dynamic Emerging Market economies in the world. The fund aims at higher end of the rating spectrum with an average BB/Ba rating for the portfolio.

Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) believes that the time is right to introduce an emerging market high yield bond fund to Taiwan investors. While economies in developed countries are faltering, those of emerging countries are still performing strongly and the company believes that there are considerable investment opportunities in emerging market corporate bonds.

James Lee, fund manager of Manulife Emerging Market High Yield Bond Fund, explained: “The fund will allocate mostly to corporate bonds instead of sovereign ones in order to capture the considerable earnings’ growth potential of emerging market companies.” He continued, “We believe the continual development of emerging countries will help support their domestic companies to grow and expand further. We expect to see this benefit their corporate bonds and therefore provide exciting investment opportunities for the Manulife Emerging Market High Yield Bond Fund.”

Emerging market bonds not only provide strong potential returns but are typically less volatile than equity markets. James Lee explained, “Historical data^1,2 shows that in the past 10 years, emerging market bonds have delivered 10.64% annualized return while the emerging market equity index generated 10.35%.   However, emerging market bonds have delivered this with standard deviation of just 2.87% compared to 7.23% for emerging market equities. This indicates that emerging market bonds have the potential to generate similar performance as the emerging equities but with much lower volatility.”

This suggests that emerging market high yield bond is an asset class that may be suitable for investors who are looking to generate solid returns while taking on less risk than with equity investment. Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) believes that the fund has significant benefits to investors especially against a backdrop of sharp fluctuations in the stock market and close to zero returns from money market funds.

The Manulife Emerging Market High Yield Bond Fund also offers a monthly dividend distribution share class, allowing investors to choose either to reinvest the dividends or to take them as regular cash income.

James said: “We believe that comprehensive research, analysis and consistent tracking of corporate developments are vital. Our extensive experience in credit research helps us determine those company’s whose bonds are likely to generate strong performance for the fund. This is particularly important for high yield corporate bonds where the quality of a company’s management is a crucial factor in determining its performance potential.”

Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan)is pleased to work with MFC Global Investment Managementwho will serve as the investment advisor of the fund, and believes the alliance will strengthen the existing expertise of the Taiwan-based team inidentifying, researching and selecting nameswith tremendous investment value.

Thefund benefits from access to MFC Global Investment Management’s strengthin emerging market bond investment as well as first-hand local information that allows its managers to adjust the portfolio in a timely manner to help create continual value for investors. There will be 50% discount on the fund’s front end fees for those investors who subscribe by September 30, 2010. Please call 0800-070-998or link to www.manulife-asset.com.tw for further information.

Sources:
1. JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index
2. MSCI Emerging Market Index, data as of May 2010

About Manulife Asset Management Taiwan

Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) Co. Ltd. was licensed in 1998 and became a member of Manulife Financial in Oct. 2008. Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) issues and manages independent mutual funds, and also handles discretionary trust investment business in Taiwan. Distribution networks include banks, brokers, and insurance companies, and also direct sales and discretionary trust investment business. Additional information about Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) can be found at www.manulife-asset.com.tw.

About MFC Global Investment Management

MFC Global Investment Management® is the asset management division of Manulife Financial. MFC Global Investment Management’s diversified group of companies provides comprehensive asset management solutions for institutional investors, investment funds and individuals 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 oil and gas, real estate, timber, farmland, as well as asset allocation strategies. MFC Global Investment Management has investment offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and throughout Asia. Additional information about MFC Global Investment Management can be found at www.mfcglobal.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$454 billion (US$428 billion) as at June 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.

Media Contact:
Nicole Chien
Manulife Asset Management (Taiwan) Co., Ltd.
Email: nicole_chien@manulife.com
Tel: +886-2-2757-5969