The top executive at John Hancock Funds said Monday that fund adoptions will continue to play a vital role in the Boston firm's strategy.

"Fund adoptions have been a key element in our strategy as we've expanded our product line at John Hancock Funds in recent years, and will continue to be important for us going forward," said Keith Hartstein, president and CEO of John Hancock Funds, in a news release.

Hancock on Monday finished the adoption of the Robeco Boston Partners Large Cap Value Fund and launched it as the John Hancock Disciplined Value Fund.

This came on the heels of Hancock's adoption of the Rainier Large Cap Equity Growth in early 2008, which it reorganized into the Hancock Rainier Growth Fund (see The MFWire, 02/01/08).

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Company Press Release

BOSTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- John Hancock Funds has completed the adoption of the Robeco Boston Partners Large Cap Value Fund and has launched it as the newly established John Hancock Disciplined Value Fund (JVLAX).

"Fund adoptions have been a key element in our strategy as we've expanded our product line at John Hancock Funds in recent years, and will continue to be important for us going forward. We're pleased to launch Disciplined Value, a core value fund with broad sector representation, and a consistent top quartile performer across all standardized timeframes. Disciplined Value offers advisors and investors an alternative to the more concentrated approach of the John Hancock Classic Value Fund," said Keith F. Hartstein, President and CEO.

"In much the same way, we have balanced our core fund offerings on the growth side as well," Mr. Hartstein continued. "Last April we added the John Hancock Rainier Growth Fund (RGROX), a four-star large cap growth fund that is a broad-based alternative to our other funds, including the more focused John Hancock US Global Leaders Growth (USGLX). Now, our shareholders have more choices among the growth and value anchors of a portfolio, through our exclusive partnerships with pre-eminent institutional investment managers such as Rainier Investments and our newest partner, Robeco Boston Partners."

"We are delighted to partner with John Hancock Funds to deliver our time-proven investment strategy to the shareholders of the Disciplined Value Fund," said Mark Donovan, chair of the Robeco Boston Partners Equity Strategy Committee and the fund's lead portfolio manager. "We are dedicated value investors, sticking to our process of choosing stocks of fundamentally good businesses that are undervalued and poised for recovery. John Hancock offers a very strong and experienced distribution network that complements our focus as an investment organization."

The John Hancock Disciplined Value Fund seeks to provide long-term growth of capital primarily through investment in equity securities. Current income is a secondary objective. The Fund pursues its objectives by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80 percent of its net assets in a diversified portfolio consisting primarily of equity securities of issuers with a market capitalization of $1 billion or greater that are identified by Robeco Boston Partners as having value characteristics.

The Fund's portfolio will be managed on a day-to-day basis by Robeco Boston Partners. Mr. Donovan, CFA, one of the Boston Partners' founders, has been a portfolio manager on the Boston Partners' Fund since inception in 1997 and David J. Pyle, CFA, has been a portfolio manager since 2005.

About Robeco Boston Partners

Robeco Boston Partners, a value equities specialist, is part of Robeco Investment Management, Inc. (www.robecoinvest.com), the U.S. asset management arm of Rotterdam-based global fund manager Robeco Group. Robeco Investment Management is comprised of three divisions: Robeco Boston Partners, Robeco-Sage and Robeco Weiss, Peck & Greer. Products include U.S. equity, U.S. fixed income, fund of hedge funds and alternatives. Additionally, the firm offers global and international equity, including emerging markets, and fixed income products through its European affiliates, including Sustainable Asset Management Group ("SAM"), a global leader in sustainability investing.

About John Hancock Funds

The Boston-based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, John Hancock Funds manages more than $47.9 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, retirement plans and related party assets for individual and institutional investors at September 30, 2008. John Hancock Funds are distributed by John Hancock Funds, LLC, member FINRA | SIPC. For more information, please visit www.jhfunds.com. 

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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