SEC Form N-CSR filed by John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811- 22441

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

200 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Salvatore Schiavone

Treasurer

200 Berkeley Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02116

(Name and address of agent for service) Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 617-543-9634

ITEM 1. REPORT TO STOCKHOLDERS

ITEM 2. CODE OF ETHICS.

As of the end of the period, December 31, 2023, the registrant has adopted a code of ethics, as defined in Item 2 of Form N-CSR, that applies to its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer (respectively, the principal executive officer, the principal financial officer and the principal accounting officer, the "Covered Officers"). A copy of the code of ethics is filed as an exhibit to this Form N-CSR.

ITEM 3. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT.

Frances G. Rathke is the audit committee financial expert and is "independent", pursuant to general instructions on Form N-CSR Item 3.

ITEM 4. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

(a) Audit Fees

The aggregate fees billed for professional services rendered by the principal accountant(s) for John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund for the audit of the registrant's annual financial statements or services that are normally provided by the accountant(s) in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements amounted to $53,951 for the year ended December 31, 2023 and $51,788 for the year ended December 31, 2022. These fees were billed to the registrant and were approved by the registrant's audit committee.

(b) Audit-Related Services

The aggregate fees for John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund for audit-related fees amounted to $12 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and $5 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. These fees were billed to the registrant or to the registrant's investment adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser), and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the adviser that provides ongoing services to the registrant ("control affiliates"). The nature of the services provided was related to software licensing fee.

(c) Tax Fees

The aggregate fees billed for John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund for professional services rendered by the principal accountant(s) for the tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning ("tax fees") amounted to $4,339 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and $4,192 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. The nature of the services comprising the tax fees was the review of the registrant's tax returns and tax distribution requirements. These fees were billed to the registrant and were approved by the registrant's audit committee.

(d) All Other Fees

The all other fees for John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund billed to the registrant or control affiliates for products and services provided by the principal accountant were $369 for the year ended December 31, 2023 and $163 and for the year ended December 31, 2022. The nature of the services comprising all other fees is advisory services provided to the investment manager. These fees were approved by the registrant's audit committee.

(e)(1) Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures:

The trust's Audit Committee must pre-approve all audit and non-audit services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm (the "Auditor") relating to the operations or financial reporting of the funds. Prior to the commencement of any audit or non-audit services to a fund, the Audit Committee reviews the services to determine whether they are appropriate and permissible under applicable law.

The trust's Audit Committee has adopted policies and procedures to, among other purposes, provide a framework for the Committee's consideration of audit-related and non-audit services by the Auditor. The policies and procedures require that any audit-related and non-audit service provided by the Auditor and any non-audit service provided by the Auditor to a fund service provider that relates directly to the operations and financial reporting of a fund are subject to approval by the Audit Committee before such service is provided. Audit-related services provided by the Auditor that are expected to exceed $25,000 per instance/per fund are subject to specific pre-approval by the Audit Committee. Tax services provided by the Auditor that are expected to exceed $30,000 per instance/per fund are subject to specific pre-approval by the Audit Committee.

All audit services, as well as the audit-related and non-audit services that are expected to exceed the amounts stated above, must be approved in advance of provision of the service by formal resolution of the Audit Committee. At the regularly scheduled Audit Committee meetings, the Committee reviews a report summarizing the services, including fees, provided by the Auditor.

(e)(2) Services approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X: Audit-Related Fees, Tax Fees and All Other Fees:

There were no amounts that were approved by the Audit Committee pursuant to the de minimis exception under Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

(f)According to the registrant's principal accountant, for the fiscal period ended December 31, 2023, the percentage of hours spent on the audit of the registrant's financial statements for the most recent fiscal year that were attributed to work performed by persons who were not full-time, permanent employees of principal accountant was less than 50%.

(g)The aggregate non-audit fees billed by the registrant's accountant(s) for services rendered to the registrant and rendered to the registrant's control affiliates of the registrant were $1,370,147 for the year ended December 31, 2023 and $1,328,471 for the year ended December 31, 2022.

(h)The audit committee of the registrant has considered the non-audit services provided by the registrant's principal accountant(s) to the control affiliates and has determined that the services that were not pre-approved are compatible with maintaining the principal accountant(s)' independence.

(i)Not applicable.

(j)Not applicable.

ITEM 5. AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS.

The registrant has a separately-designated standing audit committee comprised of independent trustees. The members of the audit committee are as follows:

Frances G. Rathke – Chairperson William H. Cunningham

Hassell H. McClellan, effective September 26, 2023

ITEM 6. SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS.

(a)Not applicable.

(b)Not applicable.

ITEM 7. DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

See attached exhibit "Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures".

ITEM 8.

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Information about the Wellington Management Company LLP ("Wellington Management") portfolio managers

Management Biographies

Below is a list of the portfolio managers who share joint responsibility for the day-to-day investment management of the Fund. It provides a brief summary of their business careers over the past five years. The information provided is as of the filing date of this N-CSR.

Gregg R. Thomas, CFA

Senior Managing Director and Director of Investment Strategy,

Wellington Management Company LLP since 2002

On Fund team since its inception (2011)

Roberto J. Isch, CFA

Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager,

Wellington Management Company LLP since 2012

Joined Fund team in 2019

Other Accounts the Portfolio Managers are Managing

The table below indicates for each portfolio manager information about the accounts over which the portfolio manager has day-to-day investment responsibility. All information on the number of accounts and total assets in the table is as of December 31, 2023. For purposes of the table, "Other Pooled Investment Vehicles" may include investment partnerships and group trusts, and "Other Accounts" may include separate accounts for institutions or individuals, insurance company general or separate accounts, pension funds and other similar institutional accounts.

Note: (*) represents the number and value of accounts, within the total accounts that are subject to a performance-based advisory fee.

Conflicts of Interest. Individual investment professionals at Wellington Management manage multiple accounts for multiple clients. These accounts may include mutual funds, separate accounts (assets managed on behalf of institutions, such as pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, or

separately managed account programs sponsored by financial intermediaries), bank common trust accounts, and hedge funds. The Fund's managers listed in the prospectus who are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund ("Investment Professionals") generally manage accounts in several different investment styles. These accounts may have investment objectives, strategies, time horizons, tax considerations and risk profiles that differ from those of the Fund. The Investment Professionals make investment decisions for each account, including the Fund, based on the investment objectives, policies, practices, benchmarks, cash flows, tax and other relevant investment considerations applicable to that account. Consequently, Investment Professionals may purchase or sell securities, including IPOs, for one account and not another account, and the performance of securities purchased for one account may vary from the performance of securities purchased for other accounts. Alternatively, these accounts may be managed in a similar fashion to the Fund and thus the accounts may have similar, and in some cases nearly identical, objectives, strategies and/or holdings to that of the Fund.

An Investment Professional or other investment professionals at Wellington Management may place transactions on behalf of other accounts that are directly or indirectly contrary to investment decisions made on behalf of the Fund, or make investment decisions that are similar to those made for the Fund, both of which have the potential to adversely impact the Fund depending on market conditions. For example, an investment professional may purchase a security in one account while appropriately selling that same security in another account. Similarly, an Investment Professional may purchase the same security for the Fund and one or more other accounts at or about the same time. In those instances the other accounts will have access to their respective holdings prior to the public disclosure of the Fund's holdings. In addition, some of these accounts have fee structures, including performance fees, which are or have the potential to be higher, in some cases significantly higher, than the fees Wellington Management receives for managing the Fund. Mr. Isch manages accounts which pay performance allocations to Wellington Management or its affiliates. Because incentive payments paid by Wellington Management to the Investment Professionals are tied to revenues earned by Wellington Management and, where noted, to the performance achieved by the manager in each account, the incentives associated with any given account may be significantly higher or lower than those associated with other accounts managed by an Investment Professional. Therefore, portfolio managers and other investment team members have an incentive to favor accounts that have the potential to provide a higher incentive compensation for them as individuals. Wellington Management manages the conflict created by these incentive arrangements through policies on the allocation of investment opportunities, including the allocation of equity IPOs, as well as after-the-fact monitoring the review of client accounts to assess dispersion among accounts with similar mandates. Finally, the Investment Professionals may hold shares or investments in the other pooled investment vehicles and/or other accounts identified above.

Wellington Management's goal is to meet its fiduciary obligation to treat all clients fairly and provide high quality investment services to all of its clients. Wellington Management has adopted and implemented policies and procedures, including brokerage and trade allocation policies and procedures, which it believes address the conflicts associated with managing multiple accounts for multiple clients. In addition, Wellington Management monitors a variety of areas, including compliance with primary account guidelines, the allocation of IPOs, and compliance with the firm's Code of Ethics, and places additional investment restrictions on investment professionals who manage hedge funds and certain other accounts. Furthermore, senior investment and business personnel at Wellington Management periodically review the performance of Wellington Management's investment professionals. Although Wellington Management does not track the time an investment professional spends on a single account, Wellington Management does periodically assess whether an investment professional has adequate time and resources to effectively manage the investment professional's various client mandates.

Compensation Wellington Management receives a fee based on the assets under management of the Fund as set forth in the Subadvisory Agreement between Wellington Management and the Adviser on

behalf of the Fund. Wellington Management pays its investment professionals out of its total revenues, including the advisory fees earned with respect to the Fund. The following information relates to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. Wellington Management's compensation structure is designed to attract and retain high-caliber investment professional's necessary to deliver high quality investment management services to its clients. Wellington Management's compensation of the Fund's manager listed in the Prospectus who is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund (the "Investment Professional") includes a base salary. The base salary for each Investment Professional who is a partner (a "Partner") of Wellington Management Group LLP, the ultimate holding company of Wellington Management, is generally a fixed amount that is determined by the managing partners of Wellington Management Group LLP. The Investment Professionals may also be eligible for bonus payments based on their overall contribution to Wellington Management's business operations. Senior management at Wellington Management may reward individuals as it deems appropriate based on other factors. Each Partner is eligible to participate in a Partner-funded tax qualified retirement plan, the contributions to which are made pursuant to an actuarial formula. Messrs. Thomas and Isch are Partners.

Each Portfolio Manager's incentive payment relating to the Hedged Equity & Income Fund Fund is linked to the gross pre-tax performance of the Fund managed by the Portfolio Managers compared to the MSCI All Country World Index over one, three and five year periods, with an emphasis on five year results. Wellington Management applies similar incentive compensation structures (although the benchmarks or peer groups, time periods and rates may differ) to other accounts managed by these Portfolio Managers, including accounts with performance fees.

Share Ownership by Portfolio Managers. The following table indicates as of December 31, 2023, the value of shares beneficially owned by the portfolio managers in the Fund.

ITEM 9. PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS.

*On December 6, 2011, the Board of Trustees approved a share repurchase plan which was subsequently reviewed by the Board of Trustees each year in December. Under the current share repurchase plan, the Fund may purchase in the open market up to 10% of its outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2023 (shares that may yet be purchased under the current plan are 1,215,124 shares). The current plan is in effect between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.

ITEM 10. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.

(a)The registrant has adopted procedures by which shareholders may recommend nominees to the registrant's Board of Trustees. A copy of the procedures is filed as an exhibit to this Form N-CSR. See attached "John Hancock Funds – Nominating and Governance Committee Charter".

ITEM 11. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.

(a)Based upon their evaluation of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures as conducted within 90 days of the filing date of this Form N-CSR, the registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that those disclosure controls and procedures provide reasonable assurance that the material information required to be disclosed by the registrant on this report is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules and forms.

(b)There were no changes in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

ITEM 12. DISCLOSURE OF SECURITIES LENDING ACTIVITIES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable.

ITEM 13. EXHIBITS.

(a)(1) Code of Ethics for Covered Officers is attached.

(a)(2) Separate certifications for the registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Rule 30a-2(a) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, are attached.

(b)Separate certifications for the registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as required by 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and Rule 30a-2(b) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, are attached. The certifications furnished pursuant to this paragraph are not deemed to be "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Such certifications are not deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the SecuritiesAct of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that the Registrant specifically incorporates them by reference.

(c)(1) Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures are attached.

(c)(2) Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders is attached. See attached "John Hancock Funds - Governance Committee Charter".

(c)(3) Registrant's notice to shareholders pursuant to Registrant's exemptive order granting an exemption from Section 19(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended and Rule 19b-1 thereunder regarding distributions made pursuant to the Registrant's Managed Distribution Plan.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.