Manulife Mutual Funds has launched 15 new funds as part of its expansion efforts in the Canadian marketplace.

To date, sales from the firm's mutual fund offerings were around $2.2 billion, up 66 per cent from the previous year, Manulife said in a statement. In the second quarter of 2011, sales were $864 million.

The new products include Manulife Leverage Company Class, which invests in equity and debt securities of leveraged companies, Manulife Value Balanced Fund/Class, which invests in Canadian and foreign equity and fixed-income securities, Manulife US All Cap Equity Fund/Class, and Manulife US Large Cap Equity Fund/Class.

The other new funds are Manulife Asia Total Return Bond Fund, Manulife Global Small Cap Balanced Fund, Manulife Global Focused Balanced Fund, Manulife International Value Equity Fund/Class, Manulife High Yield Bond Fund, Manulife Asia Equity Class, and Manulife Diversified Strategies Fund. 

The Manulife Simplicity Income Portfolio has also been renamed as the Manulife Diversified Income Portfolio and will be part of the Manulife Income Family of Funds. 

Manulife Mutual Funds is part of Manulife Investments, which offers personal wealth management products and services, such as mutual funds, segregated funds, annuities and guaranteed investment contracts. The company had around $17.9 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2011.