John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund Announces Quarterly Distribution, Payable on March 28, 2024

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (the Fund) is a closed-end management investment company. 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. The Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (assets plus borrowings for investment purposes) in equity and equity-related securities, including common stock, preferred stock, depositary receipts (including American Depositary Receipts and Global Depositary Receipts), index-related securities (including exchange traded funds, options on equity securities and equity indexes, real estate investment structures (including real estate investment trusts), convertible securities, private placements, convertible preferred stock, rights, warrants, and others. The Fund may invest in foreign issuers and foreign-currency securities without any limitation. The investment adviser of the Fund's is John Hancock Investment Management LLC.