Manulife John Hancock and Great Gray Trust Partner to Bring Private Market Access to Retirement Savers

In a significant move aimed at reshaping the landscape of defined contribution (DC) plans, Manulife John Hancock Retirement and Great Gray Trust Company, LLC have announced a strategic collaboration to launch the "Lifetime Blend+" suite. This new series of target-date collective investment trusts (CITs) represents a concerted effort to broaden the investment horizons for retirement savers by integrating private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real estate into the standard 401(k) framework—an asset class that has historically been reserved for institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth portfolios.

The proposed Lifetime Blend+ series is designed to allocate up to 20% of its total assets toward these private market sectors. The remainder of the portfolio will be comprised of Manulife John Hancock-affiliated CITs and stable value products, providing a hybrid model that balances the growth potential of alternatives with the liquidity and stability of more traditional holdings. This initiative acknowledges the evolving realities of the modern workforce, where longer lifespans and the increasing complexity of retirement planning necessitate more robust, diversified investment solutions.

"As life expectancy increases and retirement becomes a longer and more complex phase of life, participants need investment solutions built not only to reach retirement, but to help sustain them through it," said Wayne Park, CEO of Manulife John Hancock Retirement, in a statement accompanying the announcement. The move reflects a broader industry trend toward democratizing access to private markets, a sector that has historically provided institutional pension funds with a performance edge that was previously unavailable to the average American worker.

A Vehicle Built for the Defined Contribution Market

The central hurdle in integrating private assets into 401(k) plans has long been operational rather than theoretical. Private investments typically suffer from infrequent valuations and long lock-up periods, whereas DC plans demand daily valuation, liquidity, and seamless trading on recordkeeping platforms. The Lifetime Blend+ structure is engineered specifically to address these technical bottlenecks.

Great Gray Trust Company, LLC, one of the largest independent CIT trustees in the United States, is slated to act as the trustee for the new suite. With $371.8 billion in fund assets under its purview as of June 30, 2026, Great Gray brings the necessary fiduciary oversight and the robust operational infrastructure required to bridge the gap between illiquid private assets and the daily-valued environment of a 401(k).

"Private assets have to sit inside a vehicle that values daily, trades on recordkeeping platforms, and meets fiduciary standards," noted Rob Barnett, President and CEO of Great Gray Group, the parent company of Great Gray Trust. By utilizing a CIT structure, the collaboration aims to provide participants and plan sponsors with the familiar, user-friendly experience of a traditional target-date fund while simultaneously offering the sophisticated diversification inherent in private market capabilities.

This partnership is a logical evolution of an existing professional connection between the two firms. Great Gray had previously established a collaboration with iCapital to integrate private market due diligence and manager selection processes into the CIT space. Industry observers view this latest development as a definitive response to growing regulatory interest in bringing alternative investments into the defined contribution ecosystem, providing a more accessible path for retirement plan participants to engage with non-public assets.

A Multi-Manager Private Portfolio

To ensure a comprehensive and diversified exposure to private markets, the Lifetime Blend+ suite utilizes an open-architecture approach. Rather than relying solely on proprietary offerings, the strategy draws from a curated mix of both internal and external management expertise.

The internal components of the private markets sleeve are anchored by Manulife Investment Management’s specialized teams. The firm’s in-house real estate team provides direct oversight for real estate allocations, while its credit capabilities—delivered through the combined expertise of Manulife | CQS Investment Management and Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners—form the backbone of the private credit segment.

For external private markets exposure, the proposed suite includes a roster of prominent investment firms. Private equity allocations are expected to be managed by Apollo Global Management, while infrastructure assets will be handled by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and StepStone Group. Real estate exposure is bolstered by the expertise of Townsend. It is important to note that Manulife John Hancock maintains no formal affiliation with these external firms, and their inclusion in the portfolio does not constitute an official endorsement of their business practices or results.

The overarching investment strategy is driven by the "Lifetime Through Glidepath," a framework developed by Manulife Investment Management’s Multi-Asset Solutions Team. This glidepath is intentionally designed to mitigate the two most significant risks facing retirees: the risk of outliving one’s savings and the risk of failing to meet income goals. By adjusting the asset allocation over the course of a participant’s career, the strategy aims to strike an optimal balance between aggressive growth in the early years and capital preservation as the participant nears retirement.

"Lifetime Blend+ represents a significant development in our offering, bringing together our capabilities across retirement, multi-asset investing, stable value, and private markets with the expertise of external partners designed to help clients pursue their long-term retirement objectives," said David Cohen, Head of U.S. Retirement Investment Product at Manulife John Hancock Investments.

Growing Demand, Limited Penetration

The introduction of the Lifetime Blend+ suite arrives at a pivotal moment in the evolution of the target-date fund market. Data from Morningstar indicates a marked transition in the industry, with collective investment trusts now holding more than $2 trillion in target-date assets. At the start of 2025, CITs officially overtook mutual funds in terms of assets under management within the target-date space. This structural migration away from mutual funds has cleared a pathway for more complex, sophisticated portfolio designs that would have been operationally prohibitive under the strict constraints of the mutual fund wrapper.

Despite this momentum, the integration of private markets into defined contribution plans is still in its infancy. Current estimates suggest that less than 1% of the approximately $14 trillion held in the U.S. defined contribution retirement system is currently invested in private market assets. This stands in stark contrast to the experience of U.S. public pension funds, which, according to 2023 data, allocate roughly 24% of their portfolios to private markets.

The disparity in allocation highlights a clear "access gap" that firms are now rushing to close. Over the past two years, several major industry players, including Empower, State Street Global Advisors, and Invesco, have launched CIT-based solutions designed to bring private market exposure to the retail retirement market. The entry of Manulife John Hancock and Great Gray into this space marks a notable acceleration of this trend.

As of late 2026, the Lifetime Blend+ suite remains in the development phase and is subject to final regulatory and internal approvals. Manulife John Hancock Retirement continues to play a significant role in the U.S. retirement market, servicing over 56,000 retirement plans. With more than 3.3 million participants and over $278 billion in assets under management and administration as of September 30, 2026, the firm’s decision to pursue this strategy could have meaningful implications for how millions of Americans approach their retirement security in the years to come.