DBRS Provisionally Rates Manulife Finance Holdings Limited Debt at AA (low)

DBRS has today assigned a provisional rating of AA (low) with a Stable trend to the Senior Unsecured Notes (Notes) of Manulife Finance Holdings Limited (MFHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) which will be assuming the outstanding debt obligations of Manufacturers Investment Corporation (MIC) as announced by MFC in its press release dated March 29, 2010. With the closing of this assumption transaction expected on March 30, 2010, DBRS will be discontinuing the existing MIC ratings and will finalize the new MFHL Notes rating.

The newly assigned rating reflects the senior guarantee of MFC which will continue to attach to the Notes, notwithstanding the change in the primary obligor. The MFC guarantee will continue to rank pari passu with all senior debt obligations of MFC including the Medium-Term Notes issued by MFC which DBRS also rates AA (low) with a Stable trend.

The Notes were originally issued by John Hancock Canadian Corporation, assumed by John Hancock Financial Services Inc. (JHFS) pursuant to the terms of the First Supplemental Indenture dated November 26, 2008, and subsequently assumed by MIC pursuant to the terms of the Second Supplemental Indenture dated December 31, 2009. In arriving at the AA (low) rating , DBRS has reviewed the draft Third Supplemental Indenture which provides for the MFHL Notes, the Assumption and Assignment Agreement between MIC and MFHL, and the Confirmations of Guarantee from MFC.

Note:
All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating Canadian Life Insurance Companies, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.