Private Equity And Credit | Institutional | Manulife Investment Management

Expanding access to private equity and credit

Built on a long-standing foundation of industry relationships, our platform seeks to offer clients comprehensive access to deal sourcing through a complement of direct, primary, and secondary investment solutions spanning private equity and credit.

300+

fund investments¹

200+

sponsor partners

Private equity and credit outlook 2024

What does 2024 hold for LPs? Read our portfolio managers’ key takeaways on private equity, direct lending, mezzanine, and more.

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Search for alpha in the secondaries market sparks LP interest

Our global co-heads of secondaries Paul Sanabria and Jeff Hammer met with Secondaries Investor to explain how their strategy differentiates from other buyers, and where they see the most attractive opportunities in the GP-led secondaries market.

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Important disclosures

Data as of June 30, 2024.

1 Since inception of the Primary Funds Investment Strategy since August 2005. This includes 60+ Asia Fund Investments.

What sets us apart

Our primary funds program supports access to strong sponsors

As the backbone of our private equity and credit platform, our fund investments have provided a strong foundation while building sponsor relationships and investment opportunities for our equity co-investment, credit, and secondaries strategies.

Our presence across private equity and credit creates more connections

Our private equity and credit team allocates to primary, direct, and secondary investments throughout the middle market and beyond. An integrated sponsor-centric approach helps us access deal flow, discern industry trends, and connect insight from one investment opportunity to the next.

Our reputation and resources make us a strong partner

We believe the stability and scale of our 125+ year history² and permanent capital base make us a partner of choice to leading private equity firms and institutional investors around the world.

Important disclosures

The opinions expressed above are those of Manulife Investment Management and are subject to change based on market and other conditions.

2 Manulife Investment Management is a part of Manulife, a global financial institution founded in 1887.

Our private equity and credit investment strategies

Partnering with top buyout firms and sponsors, we invest in middle market companies across the capital structure. We believe our continuum of private equity and credit investment solutions, extensive sponsor relationships, and access to information foster full-scale deal sourcing, rigorous underwriting, and attractive risk-adjusted return opportunities for our clients.

Senior credit

Our partners and borrowers benefit from flexible, custom capital solutions from senior secured direct lending investment structures that can include last-out and second-lien loans. Sitting ahead of investors in a company's subordinated debt and equity, investors in senior credit get paid first by providing secured first-lien, first-priority loans directly to middle market businesses.

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Junior credit

We help partners and borrowers to achieve their strategic goals using a range of flexible, custom capital solutions that sit between senior debt and equity in the capital structure. Junior credit can include subordinated and second-lien debt and equity upside, as well as structured equity with warrants and convertible features.

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Private equity funds

We offer our clients private equity fund investments that have generated attractive returns and enduring relationships with highly regarded and sought-after global sponsors. Our capital solutions can help our partners and borrowers to create value and achieve their strategic goals.

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Equity co-investments

Co-investments can be an efficient way for investors to gain exposure to selective buyout deals at compelling economic advantage. Both partners and borrowers can achieve their strategic goals through a direct noncontrolling ownership stake made in a company alongside a private equity firm or sponsor.

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Private equity Asia

Focusing on private equity investment in the Asia-Pacific region through primary fund investments and equity co-investments, our experienced team has generated attractive returns for clients through our strong relationships with sought-after sponsors.

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Secondaries

Our clients benefit from GP-led secondaries offering custom capital solutions and opportunity to investors who are willing to commit flexible, solutions-oriented capital that extends the holding periods of prized portfolio companies.

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Venture capital

We're returns-driven venture investors focused on early and growth stage (Series B and later) B2B software and fintech startups.

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Important disclosures

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Our team

Our integrated private equity and credit team includes nearly 50 investment professionals focusing on primary private equity fund investments, direct lending, equity co-investments, and secondaries. Sharing insight and deal flow opportunities driven by 180+ sponsor relationships, our team brings decades of experience and specialized expertise to every investment we make.

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Vipon is responsible for the team that oversees global private equity, junior credit, secondaries, and private credit investments. He joined the firm in 2002 and has more than two decades of experience in private equity, four years in corporate and investment banking, and three years of operational experience. Vipon has served as a board director on several public and private companies in the United States and Canada, and he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Management Accountant, and Certified Public Accountant designations.

Education: B.B.A., Wilfrid Laurier University
Joined the company: 2002
Began career: 1991

Liam is responsible for leading the firm’s private equity investment activities in the Asia-Pacific region. He joined Manulife in 2006 and was based in Toronto until relocating to Hong Kong in 2016. Liam holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Education: B.Com., Finance, McGill University
Joined the company: 2006
Began career: 2006

Scott has overall responsibility for the firm’s North American junior credit, private equity funds, and equity co-investment programs. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner at FinanStar Group, a boutique investment bank. Scott’s background also includes numerous merger-and-acquisition assignments and corporate finance transactions while serving in Wachovia’s capital markets group.

Education: B.A., Economics, Williams College; M.B.A., Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
Joined the company: 2002
Began career: 1988

Jeff joined Manulife Investment Management in 2019 as global co-head of secondaries. Along with Paul Sanabria, Jeff leads the global secondaries business focused on general partner-led and special situation transactions, and partners with private equity, private credit, and secondary fund sponsors. Previously, he was co-head of Houlihan Lokey’s illiquid financial assets practice, a unit he co-founded and built into the leading investment banking group focused on customized transactions for holders of illiquid securities. Prior to that role, Jeff was a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, where he founded, built, and co-led Private Equity Advisors, the private equity fund-of-funds and secondary investing unit of Bear Stearns Asset Management. Earlier, he co-founded BDC Financial, a firm that provided customized private equity investment management and advisory services to institutional and high-net-worth investors. Earlier in his career, he held investment banking positions at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Education: A.B. in Politics, Princeton University; M.B.A., Harvard University
Joined the company: 2019
Began career: 1985

Devon is a senior managing director, responsible for managing Manulife Investment Management’s senior credit business. He joined Manulife Investment Management PE&C in May 2016 and has 29 years of experience. Prior to joining Manulife, Devon spent 12 years at Madison Capital Funding, a middle market direct lending platform, where he served as a leader and member of the executive and investment committees and was responsible for strategic and capital market activities, including loan syndications, third-party asset management, and joint ventures for Madison Capital’s mezzanine and unitranche credit products. Prior to joining Madison Capital, Devon spent 9 years at Banc of America Securities, where he served as a senior structurer in the sponsor leveraged finance group and a loan syndications structurer supporting the middle market group and the media/telecommunications group.

Education: B.A., Economics and Political Science, M.B.A., Indiana University
Joined the company: 2016
Began career: 1994

Mike is a senior managing director, responsible for managing Manulife Investment Management’s senior credit business. He joined Manulife Investment Management PE&C in January 2017 and has 29 years of experience. Prior to joining Manulife, Mike was head of the loan products group at BMO Global Asset Management, where he was primarily involved in credit selection, portfolio management, and fund raising, taking AUM from $0 to $1 billion across three separate middle market CLO vehicles. Prior to BMO, Mike spent nearly 20 years in key senior credit management roles at leading middle market debt providers, including Pangaea Asset Management (founder), GE Antares, Antares Capital, PPM America, and First National Bank of Chicago. He was an investment committee member at both BMO and Pangaea.

Education: B.A., Economics, Marquette University; M.B.A., Finance, DePaul University
Joined the company: 2017

Paul joined Manulife Investment Management in 2019 as global co-head of secondaries. Along with Jeff Hammer, Paul leads the global secondaries business focused on general partner-led and special situation transactions, and partners with private equity, private credit, and secondary fund sponsors. Previously, he was co-head of Houlihan Lokey’s illiquid financial assets practice, a unit he co-founded and built into the leading investment group focused on customized transactions for holders of illiquid securities. Prior to that role, Paul was a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, where he acquired and led the private funds group responsible for originating new third-party fundraising mandates. In addition, he founded and co-led the private equity fund and secondary investing unit. Earlier, he co-founded BDC Financial, a firm that provided customized private equity investment management and advisory services to institutional and high-net-worth investors.

Education: B.S. in Engineering, California State University-Sacramento; M.B.A., Harvard University
Joined the company: 2019
Began career: 1985

Matt leads Manulife Investment Management’s junior credit business, which focuses on providing subordinated and second-lien debt and structured equity solutions to private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies. He joined Hancock Capital Management—now operating as Manulife Investment Management—in 2013. Previously, he was vice president at Pomona Capital, where he focused on private equity secondary and co-investment opportunities. Earlier in his career, Matt held investment positions at AlpInvest Partners and Prudential Capital Group.

Education: B.S., Finance and Accounting, Boston College; M.B.A., Northwestern University (Kellogg)
Joined the company: 2013
Began career: 2003

Sustainable investing

We believe that effective management of ESG factors can help minimize investment risk and contribute to long-term sustainable returns. We focus on building strong relationships with sponsors, co-investors, and portfolio companies, which fosters a collaborative approach to sustainability and elevates our influence over key assets and business practices.

Our investment process is aligned with industry best practices such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards and UN-sponsored Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

100% of the GPs in our fund of funds have a sustainable investing policy

Private equity and credit sustainable investing framework

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Important disclosures

For more information on PRI’s methodology and for Manulife IM's full PRI assessment and transparency report, please visit manulifeim.com/institutional/global/en/sri-report. It should not be assumed that any sustainability principles, initiatives, standards, or metrics described on this site will apply to each investment strategy or asset in which Manulife invests or that they have applied to each of Manulife's prior investments. Sustainability is only one of many considerations that Manulife takes into account when making investment decisions and managing assets, and other considerations can be expected in certain circumstances to outweigh sustainability considerations. The information provided on this site is intended solely to provide an indication of the sustainability principles, initiatives, and standards that Manulife applies when seeking to evaluate and/or improve the sustainability characteristics of an asset as part of the larger goal of maximizing financial returns on investments. Accordingly, certain investments and strategies may exhibit characteristics that are inconsistent with the principles, initiatives, standards, or metrics described on this site.

Related viewpoints

April 23, 2024

The keys to success in GP-led secondaries deals

Paul Sanabria, Senior Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Secondaries Manulife Investment Management

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.

Private equity and credit outlook 2024

What does 2024 hold for LPs? Read our portfolio managers’ key takeaways on private equity, direct lending, mezzanine, and more.

November 20, 2023

Five misconceptions about the GP-led secondaries market

Jeff Hammer, Senior Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Secondaries Manulife Investment Management

Jeff Hammer, global co-head of secondaries, sits down with Adam Le, senior editor at PEI, to debunk five controversial statements about the secondaries market.

October 2, 2023

An LP’s guide to a reckoning in private equity

Scott Garfield, Senior Managing Director, Head of North America Private Equity Manulife Investment Management

A reckoning is coming amid a market sea change. Some private equity firms will adapt and flourish—others won’t. Two trends may help alert LPs discern the difference.

July 24, 2023

Mezzanine financing can shine when macro clouds loom

Joshua A. Liebow, CFA, Co-Head of Junior Credit Manulife Investment Management

Matt Szwarc, Managing Director, Head of Junior Credit Manulife Investment Management

Investors extending mezzanine financing to the middle market now have an opportunity to lock in fixed-rate contractual coupons while they’re still high.