Kuala Lumpur – Manulife Investment Management (M) Berhad announces today the launch of the Manulife Global Multi-Asset Diversified Income Fund (the “Fund”) to Standard Chartered Malaysia clients. The Fund aims to provide a sustainable and consistent high income, generated from a diverse range of global income sources, including traditional and non-traditional income assets such as preferred securities, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and option writing. Besides its yield generation focus, the Fund was also designed to provide a stable net-asset-value, cushioning downside as non-traditional assets have relatively lower correlation with other asset classes.
The Fund’s multi-asset diversified income approach strives to achieve higher natural yields (the cash generated from invested income sources) that are closer to or even equal to the distribution payout target, in order to minimise the need to rely on drawing from capital gains or principal capital.
Jason Chong, CEO, Manulife Investment Management (M) Berhad said: “As a leading provider of investment solutions in Malaysia, we are pleased to offer this income-oriented fund to the clients of our long-time partner Standard Chartered Bank. Having a competitive, stable income becomes even more prevalent for investors in 2022, as ongoing geopolitical developments and pandemic-related supply chain distortions will put further pressure on global growth and corporate earnings. We believe an income-focused global multi-asset investment approach that is complemented with non-traditional asset classes, could provide an additional layer of yield, while also potentially improving risk adjusted returns.”
Ng Chze How, Head of Retail Wealth Distribution, Manulife Investment Management (M) Berhad said: “Amid market uncertainty and volatility, it’s more important than ever to capture a breadth of naturally yielding income sources that will meet investors’ objectives, without sacrificing the potential for capital growth. The Fund’s investment team leaves no stones unturned in the search for income opportunities, brought about by selective yield opportunities across and within asset classes globally. Our unconstrained approach minimizes reliance on equity appreciation and primarily seeks natural high yield through fixed income and an option writing strategy. The global equity allocation further adds a level of growth potential. As such, we believe the Fund could potentially deliver a consistent and competitive distribution yield that gives investors in Malaysia the higher income they need to better manage their finances.”
Sammeer, Managing Director and Head of Consumer, Private and Business Banking, Standard Chartered Malaysia said: “In today’s challenging macroeconomic environment, clients are searching for alternative ways to broaden their income sources in growing and preserving their wealth. Leveraging on our open-architecture model to provide best-in-class products to our clients, we are pleased to offer a non-traditional income approach (namely, covered calls and collateralized puts) that was previously inaccessible to individual clients, through the Manulife Global Multi-Asset Diversified Income Fund. Given market volatility, the fund’s strategy has proven to result in lower volatility with an attractive quarterly income payout – making this all-weather solution an opportunity for our clients to achieve a higher, sustainable income in today’s low growth environment.”
“Our team takes a flexible, bottom-up, unconstrained investment strategy that taps into the wide range of assets across different investment styles and regions, which we believe could open up some new and diverse income opportunities. At the moment, key exposures for the Fund include US high yield and USD emerging market credits, as defaults remain well below long-term averages and, in particular, Asia continues to offer modest credit risk premiums. Complementing this with an options writing strategy enables further yield harvesting through premium collection for the Fund”, Ng Chze How added.
The Fund will invest at least 95% of the Fund’s net asset value (NAV) into the Manulife Global Fund – Global Multi-Asset Diversified Income Fund (“Target Fund”), and the remaining NAV of the Fund will be in liquid assets such as money market instruments or deposits.
The Fund is suitable for sophisticated investors who seek regular income, wish to participate in a diversified portfolio of assets in the global markets, and have a medium- to long-term investment horizon. The Fund has a targeted gross distribution yield of between 7% to 8% per annum[1].
The Fund aims to distribute all or part of its distributable income on a quarterly basis. It is available in RM Hedged-Class and USD Class with minimum initial investment of RM5,000 or USD5,000 and minimum additional investment of RM1,000 or USD1,000. The Fund is now available for subscription through Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia.
For more information about the Manulife Global Multi-Asset Diversified Income Fund, please visit manulifeim.com.my.
