John Hancock Investments has entered the Ucits market with its launch of John Hancock Worldwide Investors plc, a Dublin-domiciled Ucits platform designed to extend the reach of the firm’s signature manager-of-managers approach. 

Angela Billick will lead the Ucits product platform, leveraging nearly 20 years of international business development experience in Ucits. 

"Our new Ucits platform is a natural continuation of the rapid growth we have experienced in the US and a reflection of the strong demand we have received from our US broker/dealer partner firms for offshore funds that mirror some of our most popular US mutual funds," said  said Andrew G Arnott, president and CEO.

Through the new business the firm will make four of its investment strategies available to non-US residents in a choice of five Ucits share classes. These initial strategies are managed by portfolio teams at Manulife Asset Management and GMO Europe: 

• John Hancock Strategic Income Opportunities Fund
• John Hancock High Yield Fund
• John Hancock US Large Cap Equity Fund
• John Hancock Global Equity (Ex-US) Fund

“We believe these four strategies help address today’s investor need for new sources of income, along with proven equity strategies with a measure of downside protection,” said Leo M Zerilli, CIMA, head of investments at John Hancock Investments. “These are global challenges.”

John Hancock Investments is a division of Manulife. It has a "manager-of-managers approach", whereby the firm builds funds based on investor needs, then searches the globe for the best managers with proven track records to lead those funds. 

The firm has 165 professionals specialising in manager research and oversight, vetting over 250 investment strategies annually and overseeing relationships with 72 portfolio teams at 27 elite firms worldwide.