Manulife Investment Management Acquires Stake in Albamen Capital Partners

For Immediate Release
November 11, 2020

Influential China Infrastructure Private Equity Manager Adds to the Firm’s Private Markets’ Capabilities in Asia

Hong Kong – Manulife Investment Management today announced it has acquired a minority stake in Albamen Capital Partners (“Albamen”), with an option to take majority ownership in the future.  Albamen is a private equity infrastructure investment manager with a focus on renewable energy, data centers and other power-intensive infrastructure assets in China.  This deal realizes a strategic goal of Manulife IM for an on-the-ground infrastructure private equity capability in the Asia Pacific region and underlines the firm’s strong commitment to the China market.

Commenting on the acquisition, Myron Zhu, Head of Private Markets, Asia, Manulife Investment Management, said, “Albamen adds a key, in-demand Chinese onshore infrastructure investment capability to our robust private markets team globally.  Having invested for leading Chinese banks and insurers, the Albamen management team is highly regarded as a unique institutional-quality infrastructure fund manager with dedicated and proven on-the-ground investment and operational capability in China. We are pleased that the ‘go-to’ local experts in China Infrastructure market are now part of Manulife Investment Management’s Private Markets team”

Albamen will have over 20 full-time employees across Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and its headquarters in Hong Kong.  Its cycle-tested senior management team boasts more than two decades of international experience across industry operations, investment, finance, banking, governance and risk management.

Raymond Fung, Founder and Managing Partner of Albamen, said, “We are excited to join forces with Manulife Investment Management and become part of their strong global infrastructure and private markets capability.  We look forward to gaining global reach for Albamen and at the same time adding to Manulife’s capabilities in the high-growth China market.”

Stephen Blewitt, Global Head of Private Markets, Manulife Investment Management said, “The addition of Albamen enhances our competitiveness in offering a broad-range of wealth and asset management services across private and public markets to both onshore and offshore investors in China.” 

Michael Dommermuth, Head of Wealth and Asset Management, Asia, Manulife Investment Management, added, “This deal underlines our strong commitment to the China market, and will be complementary to our wholly-owned institutional investment business, our wealth and asset management joint venture as well as our insurance joint venture in China.”

Manulife operates with a sizable footprint in China’s wealth and asset management industry.  Manulife Investment (Shanghai) Limited Company is a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (“WFOE”) focused on bringing global assets solutions and co-investment opportunities to the fast-growing institutional asset management market in China. Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance Co. Ltd was the first foreign invested joint venture life insurer to sell mutual funds in China.  Manulife TEDA Fund Management Company Ltd. is one of the first six asset management firms approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to sell fund of funds in the country.

Albamen Capital Partners (Hong Kong) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Albamen, has submitted applications for the type 4 (advising on securities) and type 9 (asset management) licences from the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong (“SFC”), and the licensing process remains underway.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 17 countries and territories. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We’re committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement.

As of June 30, 2020, Manulife Investment Management had CAD$900 billion (US$660 billion) in assets under management and administration. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2019, we had more than 35,000 employees, over 98,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving almost 30 million customers. As of June 30, 2020, we had $1.2 trillion (US$0.9 trillion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $30.6 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

Media contacts

Carl Wong

Head of Media Relations and Social, Asia

Manulife Investment Management

Tel: +852 2510 3180

Email: carl_kk_wong@manulifeam.com