Manulife Investment Management (Manulife) has held an above-target and oversubscribed close of Manulife Co-Investment Partners II LP with just over US$683 million in capital. The new fund’s original target was US$600 million.
Fundraising for MCIP II began in 2020 and the new fund is backed by a diversified group of institutional and private investors. MCIP II will continue the firm’s strategy of making co-investments in North American-based middle-market companies. Manulife’s first co-investment fund closed in 2016 but the firm has been making direct private equity investments in the North American middle market since 2006.
Today, Manulife operates a range of investment strategies including private equity and credit, infrastructure, real estate, timberland, and agriculture. With the closing of MCIP II, the group’s private equity and credit platform now has US$16 billion of assets under management across five verticals; private equity funds, equity co-investments, GP-led secondaries, senior credit, and junior credit.
“We are pleased to have closed our new fund above target – and well in excess of the size of our first equity co-investment fund,” said Stephen Blewitt, the global head of private markets at Manulife. “The successful fundraise demonstrates the strength of our platform and the potential opportunities for our investors.”
“We appreciate the continued partnership and support from our investors,” said Scott Garfield, senior managing director, private equity and credit, at Manulife. Our differentiated team, with extensive experience making direct equity investments in the North American middle market, enables Manulife Investment Management to bring these opportunities to clients interested in the diversification, risk profile and potential outperformance of equity co-investment strategies.”
Mr. Garfield is active as the portfolio manager of MCIP II. In addition to Mr. Garfield, Manulife’s co-investment team includes Vipon Ghai, the global head of private equity and credit, and members of his senior management team.
“We are proud of our longstanding relationships with global private equity partners,” said Mr. Ghai. “Over the last 15 years, we have invested more than US$2 billion in over 100 co-investments thanks in great part to our synergistic private equity and credit platform, which leverages our enhanced sourcing capabilities and deal flow opportunities across private assets.”
Manulife Investment Management is the wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation (NYSE: MFC), a multinational insurance company and financial services provider headquartered in Toronto. The company operates in the United States through its John Hancock Financial division, and in Canada and Asia as Manulife.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | October 14, 2021
