Manulife Investment Management explains how opportunistic credit can provide flexible, structured capital when traditional financing channels fall short. The article highlights how the strategy may offer downside protection, contractual returns and selective upside across market cycles.
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Rate uncertainty is driving pricing dislocation and opportunity, says Manulife Investment Management’s Jessica Lee, as more institutional investors view real estate credit as a natural complement to other investments in their portfolios.
India’s onshore bond market is becoming harder for global fixed income investors to ignore. Its scale, improving access for overseas buyers, and a yield profile that stands apart from much of investment grade Asia are helping to move the market from specialist allocation to mainstream consideration.
Our Q3 outlook stays constructive on risk assets, while maintaining a focus on diversification and selective opportunities amid ongoing inflation and geopolitical uncertainty.
Manager selection drives opportunistic credit outcomes through differentiated sourcing, structuring, and active platform capabilities.
Opportunistic credit is gaining relevance as higher rates, uncertainty, and tighter capital strain middle-market balance sheets. Refinancing maturities and longer PE hold periods are expanding complex, bespoke financing needs—creating attractive entry points for active managers with restructuring and structuring expertise.
Opportunistic credit is gaining relevance amid higher rates, volatility, and tighter capital, providing flexible financing when traditional lenders pull back. For investors, it can complement portfolios by offering structured downside protection and resilient, risk-adjusted returns.
Volatility in the broadly syndicated loan market has pushed many senior secured loans to discounted prices—creating an unusually attractive entry point for CLO equity. Long-dated CLO financing means no redemption-driven selling, giving managers room to hold, reinvest, and add risk when volatility bites. Explore the potential pull-to-par benefit of buying loans below par and learn why CLO structures are built to navigate market dislocations.
The global fixed income market has been transformed by the rapid rise of emerging market debt (EMD), particularly hard currency (HC) bonds. We explain why these assets, which have evolved into a multi-trillion-dollar core allocation for institutional investors, represent a Swiss Army Knife for portfolio construction—whether the goal is to manage risk, enhance returns, and/or achieve long-term sustainability.
Manulife Investment Management explains how opportunistic credit can provide flexible, structured capital when traditional financing channels fall short. The article highlights how the strategy may offer downside protection, contractual returns and selective upside across market cycles.
Recent shifts in global policy and varied economic growth across regions are prompting a fresh look at asset allocation. As these factors uncover a broader set of opportunities globally, we look at the highlights of our latest asset allocation outlook.
At Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we’ve introduced AI as a powerful tool to support our experts, enable better analysis, and help deliver stronger outcomes to our clients. In this article, Colin Purdie, global chief investment officer for public markets, and Robi Krempus, head of AI, at Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, explain how our investment teams are integrating AI to deliver insight and support client goals.
For over a decade, global investors operated under the assumption that inflation would remain subdued, anchored below 2%1 - a belief reinforced by central bank credibility and structural disinflationary forces like globalization and technological deflation. However, the post-pandemic world has ushered in a new regime of structurally higher inflation risks, with evolving policy responses that make liquid real assets increasingly attractive.
The challenges and opportunities arising from climate change and nature loss bring with them a broad range of emerging possibilities for asset allocators.
In today’s financial landscape, identifying the right investment tools remains an ongoing challenge, particularly for insurance portfolios. We believe convertible bonds can offer a range of benefits seemingly tailor-made for insurance portfolios, In this viewpoint, we look at how convertible bonds work and why they’re particularly suited to insurance investors.
Given the evolution of both world equity markets and the global macro environment, now may be an opportune time to refocus on portfolio diversification and to take a fresh look at value-style equity investing.
Discover the evolving landscape of regulatory capital relief with insight from industry experts. Learn about the opportunities, challenges, and strategic approaches in navigating this growing market, tailored for institutional investors seeking stable income and robust diversification. Download our comprehensive primer to explore detailed strategies and analysis.
Global investor demand for credit has tended to prioritize the United States over Europe; however, many European credit assets have consistently delivered higher returns with lower volatility than their U.S. counterparts. We believe that there are further relative value opportunities for geographically agnostic, multi-asset credit strategies that can flexibly allocate between the two regions.
Rising geopolitical tensions and policy flip-flops have created a market landscape prone to frequent volatility. In such times, it might be important for investors to seek diversification and remain agile in search of opportunities. We look at the highlights of our latest asset allocation outlook.
Building well-balanced, diversified portfolios can help manage risk and support the pursuit of improved risk-adjusted returns over time. At Manulife Investment Management, we do this by taking a multidimensional approach to risk analysis and portfolio construction.
Regulatory capital relief transactions―also known as significant risk transfers―are an area within alternative credit that’s been garnering investor interest in the past few years. We highlight why it warrants investor attention.
The recent announcement of U.S. tariffs on key global trading partners grabbed plenty of headlines but until we get more details, it's hard to assess the global economic implications.
Against a backdrop of ongoing economic uncertainty and market volatility, investors looking to diversify their portfolios and embed regular income should consider an allocation to ABS—an asset class that offers the potential for high stable income opportunities and downside risk mitigation.
Government bond yields have been rising across the globe since early April’s surge in market volatility. We explore why the recent yield spike may be transitory and consider the current attractiveness of fixed income relative to other assets on a risk-adjusted basis.
With supply chain and distribution management challenges likely on the horizon, the cold storage sector is positioned for strong performance due to its niche characteristics that include the necessity of purpose, significant cost to develop new facilities, strategic locations, and cross-industry integration.
We collaborated with our partners at Concordia University and the Emerging Risks Information Center (ERIC) to assess physical climate risk across Canada's provinces and municipalities, particularly their exposure to and preparedness for natural disasters. This abridged version of our study highlights key research findings and conclusions.
Our CIO of Public Markets Colin Purdie’s latest video series is designed to inform and help investors navigate uncertainty and opportunity in the current market environment.
The intersection between the macro backdrop and the market setting investors must navigate has perhaps never been more apparent than it is today. The five themes discussed below highlight this critical intersection.
Recent tariff announcements and the potential for escalating trade tensions with key U.S. partners are raising concerns about the return of stagflation, a challenging economic scenario characterized by high inflation, weak growth, and high unemployment.
We believe that U.S. regional banks are poised to benefit from several tailwinds in 2025, including a steepening yield curve, green shoots in loan activity, an acceleration in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), easing of the regulatory environment, and waning credit concerns. We believe these factors, coupled with attractive valuations, warrant an equity allocation to U.S. regional banks in the current environment.
Understanding the supply-and-demand fundamentals of tree nuts is critical for investors considering long-term investments in the agriculture sector.
The fixed-income market currently presents an intriguing paradox: yields remain historically high, even as the U.S. Federal Reserve embraces a more accommodative monetary policy. What does this mean for investors?
As we move into 2025, the private equity co-investment landscape presents several areas of opportunity for disciplined, long-term investors with available capital. The buyout market will continue to benefit from a deceleration in inflation, accommodative credit markets, supportive public equity market valuations, and improved government policy visibility resulting from the decisive outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
With national-level economic cycles and CRE credit market cycles governed by different dynamics, we believe investors in real estate private credit can benefit from a nuanced analysis of market dynamics.
Last year will go down as a watershed year for the secondary market, delivering record volume as the asset class continued to move into the mainstream. What began as a series of trades in the late 1980s and early 1990s has matured into a substantial asset management business that some believe will hit annual volume north of $400 billion by 2030.
The private equity deal environment is presenting compelling opportunities for investors in 2025. The buyout market ended 2024 buoyed by a deceleration in inflation, more accommodative credit markets, supportive public equity market valuations, and the decisive outcome of the U.S. presidential election. There remains a significant inventory of long-tenured deals in private equity funds, with U.S. private equity inventory at an all-time high of approximately 11,500 companies, suggesting 2025 could be a busy year.
In 2024, the financial landscape was marked by a notable risk-on sentiment, evident in the compression of credit spreads as economic confidence rebounded. This spread tightening was further exacerbated by a technical imbalance, with investor demand outpacing the limited issuance of new loans in both public and private credit markets. While merger and acquisition (M&A) volume showed some improvement compared with the previous year, the majority of transactions consisted of opportunistic deals, such as repricing and dividend recapitalizations, as borrowers sought to capitalize on the highly accommodating credit environment.
Our Asia fixed-income team analyzes the likely effect of the U.S. election and other recent major events on the region’s fixed-income markets.
Decisions made at and around the UN Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku reinforce the key role that carbon markets fueled by private capital will play in facilitating global ambitions to counter climate change.
New investor channels, demand for private capital, and structural megatrends are opening up new opportunities for fast-growing private markets.
In today’s financial landscape, identifying the right investment tools remains an ongoing challenge, particularly for insurance portfolios. We believe convertible bonds can offer a range of benefits seemingly tailor-made for insurance portfolios, and when selected and managed correctly, represent a unique and versatile debt security that blends the benefits of both bonds and stocks. In this viewpoint, we look at how convertible bonds work and why they’re particularly suited to insurance investors.
In today's uncertain market environment, we believe a multi-asset credit (MAC) strategy has the potential to provide institutional investors with a dynamic solution for their income needs.
We’ve identified five broad investment themes that comprehensively address the challenges of climate change and nature loss.
It's been a difficult decade for emerging-markets, but across both equity and debt, companies are enjoying strong fundamental foundations and demographic tailwinds, combined with deep valuation discounts, rising earnings momentum, and policy rate inflection points that bode well for asset values. In this paper, our emerging markets experts outline why institutional investors ignore the asset class at their peril.
In the wake of coordinated policy announcements from Beijing last month, investors swiftly reappraised their views of the China equity market, which rallied sharply in the final week of September and early October. Kai-Kong Chay, senior portfolio manager, greater China equities, and the greater China equities team analyze the latest round of stimulus measures and explain why it warrants more than short-term tactical attention.
With the 2024 U.S. presidential election fast approaching, many investors are focused on the influence politics might play in their portfolios. Topics such as tax policy, tariffs, regulation, and spending are dominating the narrative, and guesses on how these issues may play out are causing speculation across markets.
Growing more food—more efficiently. Regenerative agriculture investment is attracting rising interest as a way to minimize the environmental impact of agriculture without compromising productivity.
What is a Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO)?
Asset backed securities (ABS) markets allow investors to gain exposure to real economy assets offering a range of risk profiles which have the potential to produce relatively high, stable yields and offer capital protection due to their collateralized nature.
Global credit to the private sector from banks is four times larger than the global non-financial corporate bond market. Much of the bank loan universe has not traditionally been available to investors
Since the Financial Crisis, banks have been under intense scrutiny from many angles, in particular from their regulators. The regulators’ goal has been to change the way banks underwrite loans ensuring the origination of stronger credit quality risk in order to avoid a repeat of the US subprime crisis. In addition, regulators have sought to safeguard balance sheets by having banks hold the appropriate amount of capital against the loans created.
The global interest-rate easing cycle is under way. We explore what that means for investors taking a global view on fixed-income opportunities while putting credit and currency risk in perspective.
As more and more investors look to integrate natural capital strategies into their portfolios, timberland is proving to be an obvious beneficiary. Thomas Sarno, global head of timberland investing, believes that now is an ideal time to invest in the asset class.
As the scale and extent of the effects from plastic pollution trigger regulation, customer concern, media controversy, and changes in market dynamics, companies will have to better understand how they contribute to the plastic crisis and their consequential exposure to commercial, legal, and reputational risks across their value chains.
Expectations for monetary policy have reversed sharply since the beginning of the year, with the market pricing in fewer rate cuts as inflation has proved to be surprisingly sticky. Find out why we remain confident that U.S. high-quality intermediate fixed income still presents a compelling opportunity for investors.
When investors adopt an inclusive perspective on U.S. real estate, they may discover a return-seeking sustainable impact opportunity of massive proportions. The core of the opportunity is socioeconomic regeneration—a broad facilitation of better social outcomes through profit-driven strategies that we expect can preserve and create long-term real estate asset value for investors and communities.
Feeding a growing population in a world of increasingly scarce natural resources will require sustainable solutions, which is where regenerative agriculture could play a critical role. For investors, building and sustainably managing a globally diversified portfolio of agricultural assets can generate competitive risk-adjusted returns while providing socioeconomic and environmental benefits to the rural communities in which the properties are located and the wider global markets the farmlands serve.
In today’s sustainability headlines, you can find equal parts pessimism and optimism. On the one hand, and not unsurprisingly, we see attention given to catastrophic future climate scenarios, risks of agricultural system collapse, employee and community unrest over social injustice, and a recurrence of apocalypse fatigue. On the other hand, we see news of innovative solutions in renewable investment, the advancement of mitigation and adaptation strategies, and better disclosures to increase transparency into how companies operate and how capital is governed and invested. Regardless of your vantage point on this spectrum, it’s important to recognize that we’re a long way from a world in which the biggest risks and opportunities for companies were almost universally imagined to be purely economic and where investors defined value exclusively in financial terms.
Interest-rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) are likely to be seen in 2024 and our expectation is for the FOMC to begin during the summer months. Nevertheless, ambiguity remains on the pace and depth of the impending easing cycle. Futures contract pricing tied to future Fed policy continues to oscillate on policymaker communication and incoming data, but the ultimate future path depends largely on the evolution of inflation and economic activity.
The combination of investment characteristics associated with institutional investment in timberland and agriculture offers a compelling rationale for their inclusion in larger multi-asset portfolios, and ultimately allows for the expansion of the efficient frontier, as determined by traditional mean-variance portfolio optimization.
Recent bond market volatility has been painful for fixed-income investors seeking stability within their portfolios. The silver lining? This backdrop sets the stage for active management to add value.
The U.S. economy’s resilience amid a high-rate environment is likely to provide a durable catalyst for stocks for the rest of 2024. We explore stock selection ideas in industries where we see the most attractive opportunities in an economy driven by robust and sustainable consumer spending, a healthy banking system, and positive housing market trends. Each of these strengths is likely to become more pronounced given the likelihood of interest-rate cuts later this year, in our view.
Municipal bonds closed out the year with a period of equity-like returns as yields have retreated since late October. Have investors missed the generational opportunity in the municipal bond market? Not in our view.
The crisis facing the world’s biodiversity has become front of mind for policymakers and investors in recent years. Investing in natural capital—the world’s stock of natural resources that combine to yield a flow of benefits—represents an exciting investment innovation that can achieve a range of positive impacts and create opportunities outside of traditional investment silos.
Direct lending’s days as an esoteric asset class are no more. Offering the potential for attractive yields, reduced volatility, and portfolio diversification, this substantial segment of the private credit market seems to be becoming a core allocation for insurers, pensions, family offices, and income investors of all stripes. We believe this very moment represents an attractive entry point—and that direct lending is likely to continue shining as a critical part of a diversified portfolio in the year ahead.
An imbalance between limited natural resources and the growing appetite for farm products makes agricultural trade critical to meeting global food demand, bringing with it further opportunities for agricultural producers, agribusinesses, and investors.
Until 2022, the past dozen years had been kind to most private equity firms. Returns were strong and fundraising followed. Even mediocre managers were able to grow. A reckoning is coming, however, amid more challenging conditions. While some firms will adapt and flourish, others won’t. Minding two megatrends may help alert LPs to discern the difference.
The ICVCM has detailed its assessment framework, which will serve as the initial bar for determining carbon credit quality. Meaningful implications for carbon markets are likely around the corner. We share our evaluation of this quarter’s publication.
The solid fundamentals supporting farmland as an asset class remain. Now, new advances are sustainably increasing farmland yields while creating additional income streams.
Sustainable agriculture can promote healthier and more diverse farmland ecosystems while aiming to enhance efficiency and profitability.
Yields have spiked, yet they may soon fall if the economy stalls. Investors extending junior credit, or mezzanine financing, to middle market companies now have an opportunity to lock in fixed-rate contractual coupons while they’re still high and while terms remain favorable for lenders.
Resilience has always been viewed as a good thing. As asset allocators, it's our goal to construct portfolios that can withstand market events and do well in economic downturns. In this instance, however, resilience may not actually work in investors’ favor. The unexpected economic strength on display could—ironically—delay the path to recovery.
Data is our word of the month. Despite some surprising signs of economic resilience in the United States, our leading indicators still have us convinced a recession is on the way. Meanwhile, we don’t think the strong unemployment rate is a perfectly accurate description of the current (and future) labor market. Finally, the S&P 500 Index is looking strong so far this year, but we dive into how much of that performance is due to the AI craze.
Market commentators have devoted much energy over the past year to debating whether it’s time to write off the traditional 60/40 approach to investing that broadly allocates 60% of a portfolio to equities and 40% to fixed income.
The dramatic reversal in central bank policy over the past year and a half has created plentiful opportunities in many segments of the bond market, as well as meaningfully higher yields.
The measure of the health of any market is whether a willing buyer can find an interested seller. That’s happening in today’s secondary market, and it’s happening at a scale that stands in contrast to other capital markets.
The publication of the Core Carbon Principles criteria for carbon programs is an important first step for strengthening confidence and should be closely followed by market participants.
Our optimistic outlook for U.S. agricultural investments continues following overall outstanding performance.
With Congress and the White House again struggling to reach an agreement to avert a potential U.S. government debt default, investors assessing the latter stages of the spring 2023 debt ceiling conflict would do well to study how a similar battle played out in the summer of 2011, delivering a short-term blow to financial markets.
Singapore’s electronics industry is a vital node in the global electronics market and is particularly exposed to the changes in the global demand for electronics. Learn why the industry’s health could be seen as a proxy for the region’s economic health.
Environmental, social, and governance ratings and data provided by professional services firms are fast becoming an essential part of the sustainable finance market infrastructure. But these ratings seem to shed as much light as they provoke confusion. We take a look at the current state of ESG ratings, consider some of the factors driving differences among competing rating providers, and offer a view on the future of these tools.
As the world continues to adapt to climate change, carbon markets are integral to aiding the transition to net-zero emissions. Carbon markets must continue to strengthen to build stakeholder confidence and ensure that climate mitigation is delivered, highlighting the importance of establishing clear carbon standards that are systematically applied throughout development and management lifecycles to ensure quality and integrity.
Investments in real assets are valued for providing diversification benefits, inflation protection, and stable yield—they also have the potential to be part of the solution to some of our most urgent global challenges.
We outline what we believe are the three main reasons why investors should consider a real assets allocation amid challenging market conditions.
Successfully executing a co-investment strategy is relatively straightforward, but in no way is it easy to accomplish. Whereas direct investing involves the full range of private equity activities—from sourcing through exit planning, from firm strategy through all elements of executing value creation strategies—co-investing involves a more limited set of requirements. Robust sourcing and effective investment selection are the ingredients for success.
Jason Gelberd and Tim Kim of Manulife Comvest Credit Partners discuss the growth of asset-based finance, how collateral and capital structure shape risk, and what investors should consider when evaluating managers.
Erin Patterson of Manulife joins the podcast to discuss macroeconomic volatility, commercial real estate strategy, and how institutional investors are navigating today's evolving market.
Hear Erin Patterson, our global co-head of research and strategy, discuss key macroeconomic trends and long-term demand drivers influencing today’s real estate investment strategies with IREI’s Chase McWhorter.
How the fast-moving, opportunity-rich universe of infrastructure equity investment can provide resilience, predictability, and outperformance for insurance asset management in a rapidly changing world.
Insurers facing increasing regulatory and public pressure to manage climate-related risks are seeking to allocate their invested assets in ways that can support sustainability, the energy transition, and even nature itself through natural capital.
Join host Stewart Foley, CFA on the InsuranceAUM.com Podcast as we explore direct lending, sponsored finance, and middle market private equity, with insights into private credit opportunities for insurance investors.
Join host Stewart Foley on the InsuranceAUM.com Podcast as he discusses real estate investing trends, challenges, and opportunities.
Jason Walker is the Co-Chief Investment Officer at Manulife CQS.
What are the ingredients of a successful GP-led secondaries deal? Paul Sanabria believes in a sound framework that thoroughly analyzes the assets, sponsors, alignment, and secondary deal dynamics—and that the devil lies in the details.
John Anderson is the Global Head of Corporate Finance and Infrastructure at Manulife Investment Management and John Hancock Life Insurance.
Eric Cooperstrom is the Managing Director of Impact Investing in Natural Climate Solutions at Manulife Investment Management.
Paul Sanabria and Jeff Hammer are Senior Managing Directors and Global Co-Heads of Secondaries at Manulife Investment Management.
1 AUM in USD
2 As of March 31, 2026
3 Manufacturers Life Insurance Company founded in 1887