John Hancock Launches New International Growth Equity Fund

BOSTON, Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock Funds has completed the adoption of the Turner International Growth Fund and has launched it as the newly established John Hancock International Growth Equity Fund (A-Share Ticker: JTIGX; I-Share Ticker: JTIIX). The reorganization became effective after the close of business on January 11, 2013, and the John Hancock International Growth Equity Fund is now available for sale to retail investors through their financial advisors.

"The addition of our International Growth Equity Fund expands the range of international equity fund offerings we can offer advisors and their clients," said Andrew G. Arnott, President & CEO, John Hancock Funds. "With its growth orientation, it is a further complement to our product line, which also includes our International Value Equity Fund (JIEAX), sub-advised by John Hancock Asset Management, and our International Core Fund (GIDEX), sub-advised by GMO. Turner pursues a bottom-up strategy that blends quantitative and qualitative analysis to find growth companies with superior earnings prospects, reasonable valuations, and favorable trading-volume and price patterns. Adopting this new fund further supports our strategy of offering mutual fund investors access to institutional expertise and products that would not otherwise be available to them."

He added:  "The John Hancock International Growth Equity Fund marks our 13^th fund adoption since 2002. Fund adoptions have played a key role in recent years in our growth strategy, and will continue to be important for us going forward."

The John Hancock International Growth Equity Fund is an actively managed portfolio of approximately 60 – 80 international growth equity stocks with capitalizations generally greater than $2 billion.  The Fund's investment objective is long-term capital appreciation.  The Fund is designed to add value through superior stock selection, based on the output of extensive, industry-focused fundamental research. The goal of the investment process is to identify candidates for investment that are growth companies with above-average earnings prospects.

Mark Turner, President and Co-Founder of Turner Investments and Senior Portfolio Manager/Security Analyst for the firm, is the portfolio manager of the John Hancock International Growth Equity Fund. He has managed the Fund since inception in January of 2007 and has more than 30 years of investment experience.  Mr. Turner co-founded Turner Investments in 1990.

As of December 31, 2012, the net assets of the Fund were $32.5 million.

About Turner Investments
Based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Turner Investments manages growth, global/international, and alternative separately managed accounts and mutual funds. As of September 30, 2012, Turner has $11.6 billion in total net assets.

About John Hancock Funds
The Boston-based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, John Hancock Funds manages more than $77.8 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, college savings and retirement plans, and related party assets for individual and institutional investors as at September 30, 2012.  

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial
John Hancock Financial is a division of Manulife Financial, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Assets under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were C$515 billion (US$523 billion) as at September 30, 2012. 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 manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Funds