Manulife Mutual Funds, a division of Elliott & Page Ltd., announced a number of enhancements on Monday, including the addition of three new global mandates to its lineup of funds.

The goals of adding these three new global funds are to help investors benefit from the gains they have made in the Canadian markets and encourage global diversification. The new funds include:

– The Elliott & Page Global Dividend Fund, managed by the value equity team of MFC Global Investment Management. The value equity team has extensive experience managing value-oriented investment mandates. The ream will seek out the best dividend-paying companies, on a global basis, to capture both income and long-term capital appreciation for Canadian investors.

– The Manulife Simplicity Global Balanced Portfolio. Steve Orlich, vice president and senior portfolio manager, MFC Global, will be the lead manager for the fund. Orlich is an asset allocation specialist who is currently responsible for $38 billion in asset allocation products worldwide as of March 31.

– The MIX World Investment Class, sub-advised by Mawer Investment Management Ltd. The selection of Mawer as a sub-advisor for the fund follows an extensive manager search for a firm who has demonstrated a strong and consistent track record of managing international mandates in all market cycles. The Mawer World Investment fund won international equity fund of the year honours for 2005, 2003 and 2002 at the Canadian Investment Awards.

“With the outperformance of the Canadian market and the elimination of foreign content restrictions to retirement plans, now is the time to reduce risk and ensure your portfolio is properly diversified inside and outside Canadian borders.” said Doug Conick, vice president, investment funds. “We want to provide broader access to foreign markets because we believe our investors can benefit from global diversification and access to world class investment management.”
In addition, Manulife Mutual Funds also announced a number of other changes to the 2006 simplified prospectus renewal. All changes, including the new funds, are effective Aug. 28.

– The Elliott & Page Core Balanced Fund is being added to Manulife Mutual Fund’s line-up. MFC Global vice president and senior portfolio manager, Pat McHugh will manage the fund. McHugh has more than 20 years of experience and is responsible for overseeing MFC Global’s Canadian large cap core mandates.

– McHugh is also taking over lead manager responsibilities for the MIX Canadian Large Cap Core Class. Bissett Investment Management will no longer act as sub-advisor to this fund.

– MFC Global vice president and senior portfolio manager Shauna Sexsmith, will replace Danny Tomka as the lead manager for the Elliott & Page Generation Wave fund. Sexsmith has more than 18 years of experience managing growth-oriented mandates.

– Effective Oct. 16, the following funds will be terminated as previously announced: MIX F.I. Growth America Class, MIX F.I. International Portfolio Class, MIX International Growth Class and MIX U.S. Large Cap Core Class.