Manulife Asset Management (MAM), the investment management division of Toronto-based insurance giant Manulife Financial Corp., is aggressively expanding its operations in Europe.
Europe is viewed as a strategically important growth market for MAM, which has built a sizable business in North America and Asia, and has global assets under management of US$325 billion, with offices in 16 countries.
“The business recognizes that to serve the global investor community, it is critical to have a well-developed and robust European presence to complement its growing North American and Asian businesses,” says Claude Chene, global head of distribution with MAM in London.
To facilitate the expansion in Europe, the firm has almost doubled the number of employees in London to about 40 and strengthened both its distribution and investment teams.
“We are a growing business with exciting investment capabilities across a broad range of traditional asset classes, multi assets and private market investments,” says Kai Sotorp, CEO of MAM in Toronto. “We have been building our European investment teams and client base over the years and we are excited to be able to make further commitments to our clients and this important market.”
MAM currently has 11 funds registered for sale in the U.K., with strategies including global equities, fixed-income, emerging market equities and debt, and U.S. large-capitalization. Plans are in the works for investment management products and services to be marketed to both institutional and wholesalers in Europe.
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