SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The following is a summary of the application. The complete application may be obtained via the Commission's website by searching for the file number, or for an applicant using the Company name box, at http://www.sec.gov/​search/​search.htm or by calling (202) 551-8090.

Applicants

1. The Trust is a business trust organized under the laws of Massachusetts and will consist of one or more series operating as a Fund. The Trust is registered as an open-end management investment company under the Act. Applicants seek relief with respect to Funds (as defined below), including the initial Fund (the “Initial Fund”). The Funds will offer exchange-traded shares utilizing active management investment strategies as contemplated by the Reference Order.^[2]

2. John Hancock, a Delaware limited liability company, will be the investment adviser to the Initial Fund. Subject to approval by the Trust's board of trustees, John Hancock or any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with John Hancock (any such entity included in the term “Adviser”), will serve as investment adviser to each Fund. John Hancock is, and any other Adviser will be, registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”). John Hancock may enter into sub-advisory agreements with other investment advisers to act as sub-advisers with respect to the Funds (each, a “Sub-Adviser”). Any Sub-Adviser to a Fund will be registered under the Advisers Act.

3. Foreside Fund Services, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company and a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and will act as the principal underwriter of shares of the Initial Fund. Applicants request that the requested relief apply to any distributor of Shares, whether affiliated or unaffiliated with the Adviser and/or Sub-Adviser (included in the term “Distributor”). Any Distributor will comply with the terms and conditions of the Order.

Applicants' Requested Exemptive Relief

4. Applicants seek the requested Order under section 6(c) of the Act for an exemption from sections 2(a)(32), 5(a)(1), 22(d) and 22(e) of the Act and rule 22c-1 under the Act, under sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Act for an exemption from sections 17(a)(1) and 17(a)(2) of the Act and under Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act for an exemption from Sections 12(d)(1)(A) and 12(d)(1)(B) of the Act. The requested Order would permit applicants to offer Funds that operate as contemplated by the Reference Order. Because the relief requested is the same as certain of the relief granted by the Commission under the Reference Order and because John Hancock or an affiliate has initially entered into a licensing agreement with Fidelity Management & Research Company, or an affiliate thereof, in order to offer Funds that operate as contemplated by the Reference Order,^[3] the Order would incorporate by reference the terms and conditions of the same relief of the Reference Order.

5. Applicants request that the Order apply to the Initial Fund and to any other existing or future registered open-end management investment company or series thereof that: (a) Is advised by John Hancock or any Adviser; (b) offers exchange-traded shares utilizing active management investment strategies as contemplated by the Reference Order; and (c) complies with the terms and conditions of the Order and the terms and conditions of the Reference Order that are incorporated by reference into the Order (each such company or series and the Initial Fund, a “Fund”).^[4]

( printed page 2189)

6. Section 6(c) of the Act provides that the Commission may exempt any person, security or transaction, or any class of persons, securities or transactions, from any provisions of the Act, if and to the extent that such exemption is necessary or appropriate in the public interest and consistent with the protection of investors and the purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of the Act. Section 17(b) of the Act authorizes the Commission to exempt a proposed transaction from section 17(a) of the Act if evidence establishes that the terms of the transaction, including the consideration to be paid or received, are reasonable and fair and do not involve overreaching on the part of any person concerned, and the transaction is consistent with the policies of the registered investment company and the general purposes of the Act. Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act provides that the Commission may exempt any person, security, or transaction, or any class or classes of persons, securities or transactions, from any provision of section 12(d)(1) if the exemption is consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors. Applicants submit that for the reasons stated in the Reference Order the requested relief meets the exemptive standards under sections 6(c), 17(b) and 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act.

87 FR 2187