Michael King

Mike King is a Senior Managing Director at Manulife Investment Management's Private Equity & Credit group, where he is responsible for managing the firm's senior credit business. He joined Manulife Investment Management in January 2017 and brings roughly 29 years of experience in leveraged and middle-market credit. His email domain (jhancock.com) reflects John Hancock, Manulife's U.S. operating brand under which much of this investment activity sits.

Before Manulife, King was head of the loan products group at BMO Global Asset Management, where he focused on credit selection, portfolio management, and fund-raising, and served as an investment committee member. Earlier, he spent nearly two decades in senior credit-management roles at a series of leading middle-market debt providers: he was a founder of Pangaea Asset Management (and an investment committee member there), and previously held senior positions at GE Antares, Antares Capital, PPM America, and First National Bank of Chicago — a career centered on the Chicago middle-market lending ecosystem.

He holds an M.B.A. in Finance from DePaul University and a B.A. in Economics from Marquette University.

In 2025 his business was at the center of a major platform expansion: Manulife agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Comvest Credit Partners, combining Manulife's Senior Credit team (which King leads) with Comvest to form a ~$18.4B private-credit manager branded Manulife | Comvest.

• Focuses on senior secured and middle-market direct lending — providing debt capital to established, often private-equity-sponsored companies, rather than making early-stage equity bets.
• Manages Manulife's Senior Credit book (~$3.7B), emphasizing credit selection, portfolio management, and downside protection — consistent with a lender's "capital preservation first" orientation.
• The broader Manulife John Hancock platform frames senior-secured credit around income with structural protection (senior position in the capital stack, covenants, collateral) rather than growth-equity upside.
• Deals are typically sponsor-driven: originated through relationships with private-equity firms financing buyouts and portfolio-company growth in the U.S. middle market.