John Hancock Funds has made two of its institutional mutual funds available to retail investors -- the $7.8 million
John Hancock Core Growth Fund and the $7.7 million
John Hancock Core Value Fund. Hancock is instituting a retail structure for each of the four-year old funds, adding A, B, and C share classes.
"We wanted to broaden our product line. In the past we have been known as a sector shop and that is inaccurate. We think that these two funds showcase some of our investment capabilities beyond what people know of us," Susan Bishop, a spokesperson for John Hancock said.
Converting funds from an institutional level to a retail level is easier than launching a new fund because it has a track record, Bishop said. The fund will be marketed through broker/dealers primarily through mailers. The managers will be participating in conference calls and in the future the managers will go out and meet the brokers and the press.
The share classes were added to each fund on July 1, 1999, but the news was just released due to a need to update sales and marketing materials, according to the company. 
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