John Hancock Merging Five Closed-End Stock Funds

David Kathman, an analyst at Morningstar, says the funds are good candidates for a merger. "They're taking these five funds that are heavily into utilities and dividend-focused," he says. "They're all comparable in size and look pretty similar."

Pending shareholder approval, John Hancock expects the reorganization of the Patriot Premium Dividend Fund I to close on Monday, May 7. Select Dividend Trust is anticipated to close on May 16, Preferred Dividend Fund on May 29 and Global Dividend Fund on June 4.

Including the four funds planned to merge into Patriot Premium Dividend II, Hancock offers 13 closed-end funds with total assets of almost $6.51 billion, as of Feb. 28, according to data from Morningstar. After the reorganization, Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II will have around $1.09 billion in assets, or about 17% of the company's closed-end fund assets.