New offering promises DC plans access to real estate, farmland, infrastructure, and timber investments
Canadian defined contribution (DC) plans now have access to real estate, farmland, infrastructure, and timber through a pooled fund designed to diversify portfolios and manage volatility across market cycles.
Manulife has added the Manulife Real Asset Pooled Fund to its group retirement platform, offering one of the first diversified real asset solutions in the Canadian DC space.
The fund will be available through the Manulife Retirement Date Funds, Manulife Retirement Date Index Plus (RDI+) Funds, and Manulife Asset Allocation Funds.
DC plan sponsors using custom target date or custom balanced funds can also access the strategy.
The Manulife Real Asset Pooled Fund seeks to deliver real return over the long term through a blend of private and liquid real asset investments.
It combines the expertise of Manulife’s Multi-Asset Solutions Team (MAST) and Manulife Investment Management’s (Manulife IM) Private Markets Investment team.
Eric Menzer, senior managing director, head of Advisory Solutions and senior portfolio manager at Manulife IM, is responsible for managing the fund’s broad asset allocation and asset class forecasting.
Manulife IM’s Private Markets team handles the identification, underwriting, and disposition of direct real assets across timber, agriculture, infrastructure, and real estate.
Michael Banfield, head of Investment Product at Manulife Group Retirement, Canada, said traditional target date funds rely heavily on public equities and bonds.
He noted that “adding real assets enhances the potential diversification, inflation protection, and risk adjusted return of these strategies.”
He added that these features “may help reduce volatility through market cycles and help improve retirement outcomes for Canadians.”
Brett Marchand, head of Manulife Group Retirement, Canada, said the integration of real assets into retirement strategies aims to broaden access for individual investors.
He described the approach as “bridging the gap between institutional and individual investor access,” and noted it is part of efforts to update Canadian DC plans.
He noted that the structure mirrors practices used in large defined benefit plans, foundations, and Manulife’s own General Account.
