The fund house will continue with MAAKL’s current senior management team with Wong Boon Choy remaining as chief executive and executive director and Patrick Nge Koh Nguong as the chief operating officer.
Mark O’ Dell, group chief executive of Manulife Holdings Berhad, said the acquisition “greatly enhances Manulife’s business and presence in Malaysia”, complementing the firm’s existing wealth management growth strategy.
According to Manulife, this acquisition will improve the scale of MHB’s unit trust business, making it one of the top 10 largest in Malaysia in terms of unit trust assets.
The acquisition will also see most of the investment management responsibility for MAAKL’s unit trust funds transferred to Manulife Asset Management Services Berhad, a wholly-owned MHB subsidiary,
Moving forward, the fund house’s priority is to ensure the stability and continuity of MAAKL’s operations prior to its merger with MAMSB within 12 months’ time, subject to regulatory approval.
For Manulife Holdings Berhad, this acquisition brings a captive distribution force of more than 1,100 professional unit trust advisers as well as 27 unit trust funds, of which 19 are employees provident fund approved funds. Ten of the 27 funds are Islamic funds.
