Aug 6 (Reuters) - Manulife Financial ( MFC ) reported higher second-quarter profit on

Wednesday, driven by strong performance in its Asia unit that boosted the Canadian insurer's

results.

The company also announced it would buy 75% of Comvest Credit Partners for $937.5 million,

in a push to expand its private credit platform.

Core earnings from Manulife's Asia business climbed 13% to $520 million in the quarter

compared with the year-ago period.

The robust performance was driven by continued business growth, favourable claims experience

and improved impact of new business.

Manulife's annual premium equivalent (APE), a commonly used metric in the insurance industry

to measure the total value of new business written in a given period, jumped 15% during the

quarter, powered by a jump in its Asia unit.

Shares of the insurer have lost nearly 3% in 2025, underperforming smaller peer Sun Life

, which is set to report its earnings tomorrow.

The company's wealth and asset management business also contributed, as core earnings jumped

19% to C$463 million in the second quarter.

Net income attributable to shareholders came in at C$1.79 billion ($1.30 billion) or 98

Canadian cents per share in the three months ended June 30, compared with C$1.04 billion, or 52

Canadian cents per share, in the year earlier.

($1 = 1.3741 Canadian dollars)