Manulife Investments has filed a preliminary prospectus for the Manulife U.S. Regional Bank Trust, a closed-end investment fund. The actively managed portfolio will be comprised primarily of securities issued by U.S. regional banks and lending companies, including commercial banks, industrial banks, savings and loan associations, and bank and financial holding companies. Manulife Asset Management Limited will act as trustee, manager, and investment manager of the fund and the portfolio will be actively managed by Manulife Asset Management US.

There will be two unit classes in the initial public offering, with Class A priced at $10.00 per unit and Class U at $10.00 USD per unit.

Manulife says that the fund’s investment objectives are to maximize total returns through capital appreciation and distributions, and to provide unitholders with monthly distributions. The fund's initial target distribution amount is expected to be $0.0416 a month per Class A Unit (or $0.50 per annum) and $0.0416 USD a month per Class U Unit (or $0.50 USD per annum), representing an initial yield on the original unit issue price of 5.00% per annum.