Investment involves risks. Please refer to the Prospectus which forms part of the Hong Kong Offering Document for details including the risk factors.
1. Investment Risk: The Sub-Fund’s investment portfolio may fall in value due to any of the key risk factors below and therefore your investment in the
Sub-Fund may suffer losses. There is no guarantee of the repayment of principal.
2. Credit Rating and Downgrading Risk:
Credit ratings assigned by rating agencies are subject to limitations and do not guarantee the creditworthiness of the security and/or issuer at all times. In any event, the credit rating of a debt security or its issuer may subsequently be downgraded. In the event of such downgrading, the value of the Sub-Fund may be adversely affected. The Investment Manager may or may not be able to dispose of the debt securities that are being downgraded.
3. Credit Risk:
This refers to the risk that a corporate bond issuer will default, by failing to repay principal and interest in a timely manner, or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline.
4. Interest Rate Risk:
When interest rates rise on certain currencies that the bonds are denominated in, the value of the bonds may reduce, resulting in a lower value for the relevant portfolio.
5. Sovereign Debt Risk:
The Sub-Fund’s investment in securities issued or guaranteed by governments may be exposed to political, social and economic risks. In adverse situations, the sovereign issuers may not be able or willing to repay the principal and/or interest when due or may request the Sub-Fund to participate in restructuring such debts. The Sub-Fund may suffer significant losses when there is a default of sovereign debt issuers.
6. Geographical Concentration Risk:
The concentration of the Sub-Fund’s investments in securities of American companies may result in greater volatility than portfolios which comprise broad-based global investments. The value of the Sub-Fund may be more susceptible to adverse events in the region.
7. Collateralised/Securitised Products Risk:
The Sub-Fund may invest in collateralised and/or securitised products, including asset-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities. These securities provide exposure to underlying assets and the risk/return profile is determined by the cash flows derived from such assets. In a volatile market, these securities may display heightened price sensitivity to market fluctuations and have higher liquidity and credit downgrading risks.
8. Non-Investment Use of FDIs:
The extensive use of FDIs does not form part of the investment strategy of the Sub-Fund, but the Investment Manager may from time to time utilize FDIs for efficient portfolio management and hedging purposes. The use of derivatives exposes the Sub-Fund to additional risks, including: (i) volatility risk – FDIs may be highly volatile; (ii) management risk – the results are reliant upon the success of the Investment Manager in making investment decisions in the prevailing market conditions; (iii) market risk – there is a risk from exposures to changes in market value of FDIs; (iv) credit risk – the Sub-Fund is exposed to the risk of loss resulting from a counterparty’s failure to meet its financial obligations; and (v) liquidity risk – which exists when particular investments are difficult to be purchased or sold quickly. The eventuation of any of the above risks could have an adverse effect on the net asset value of the Sub-Fund. In adverse situations, the Sub-Fund’s use of FDIs may become ineffective in efficient portfolio management or hedging and the Sub-Fund may suffer significant losses.
9. Risks relating to Dividends Paid out of Capital:
The Directors of Manulife Global Fund may, at their discretion, pay dividends out of income, realized capital gains and/or out of capital, of the Sub-Fund in respect of Class AA Inc, Class AA (AUD Hedged) Inc, Class AA (CAD Hedged) Inc and Class AA (HKD) Inc Shares. Dividends paid out of capital of the Sub-Fund (if any) amounts to a return or withdrawal of part of the amount of an investor’s original investment, or from any capital gains attributable to that original investment. Any distributions involving payment of dividends out of the Sub-Fund’s capital may result in an immediate decrease in the net asset value per Share of the above Classes of the Sub-Fund. The dividends and the net asset value of each of Class AA (AUD Hedged) Inc and Class AA (CAD Hedged) Inc may be adversely affected by the differences in the interest rates of the reference currency of such share class and the Sub-Fund’s base currency,
resulting in an increase in the amount of dividends that is paid out of capital and hence a greater erosion of capital than other share classes.