Fund Description: John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund is an exchange-traded closed-end fund or a closed-end ETF that is officially described as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE: The Fund’s investment objective is to provide total return with a focus on current income and gains and also consisting of long-term capital appreciation. FUND STRATEGY: The Fund uses an equity strategy and an actively managed option overlay strategy to pursue its investment objective. By combining these two strategies, the Fund seeks to provide investors with a portfolio that will generate attractive long-term total returns with significant downside equity market protection. The Equity Strategy will seek to provide broad-based exposure to equity markets, while emphasizing downside equity market protection. The goal of the Equity Strategy is to participate in and capture the broader equity market returns in rising market conditions, while seeking to limit losses relative to the broader equity markets in declining market circumstances through an effective combination of equity investment strategies. The Option Strategy will pursue two goals: (i) to generate earnings for current distribution from option premiums; and (ii) downside equity market protection (through the use of U.S. equity index puts). Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in equity and equity-related securities, including common stock, preferred stock, depositary receipts, index-related securities (including exchange traded funds (“ETFs”)), options on equity securities and equity indexes, real estate investment structures, convertible securities, private placements, convertible preferred stock, rights, warrants, derivatives linked to equity securities or indexes and other similar equity equivalents. The Fund may invest in listed and unlisted domestic and foreign equity and equity-related securities or instruments. These equity and equity-related instruments may include equity securities of, or derivatives linked to, foreign issuers and indexes (including emerging market issuers or indexes). The Fund may invest up to 30% of its total assets in the securities of foreign issuers and foreign-currency securities, including foreign currency forward contracts, the entirety of which may be invested in companies that conduct their principal business activities in emerging markets or whose securities are traded principally on exchanges in emerging markets. FUND MANAGEMENT: The Fund’s investment adviser is John Hancock Advisers, LLC. The adviser has engaged Wellington Management Company, LLP to serve as the subadviser to the Fund. Wellington Management will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio investments in the Equity Strategy and will be responsible for formulating and implementing the Option Strategy.