Manulife Financial Corporation acquires Berkshire-TWC Financial Group Inc.

On August 31, 2007 Manulife Financial Corporation announced that it received the required regulatory approvals and closed its purchase of all of the common shares of Berkshire-TWC Financial Group Inc. for an undisclosed purchase price from a group of vendors, which included Portland Holdings Inc. and various other companies controlled by Michael Lee-Chin (the Portland Group). The transaction added more than 700 advisors and 237 branches from Berkshire's mutual fund dealer and investment dealer subsidiaries to Manulife's existing operations across the country. Combined with Manulife Securities, the transaction creates a sales force of 1,500 independent advisors and a business with about $19 billion in assets under administration.

The Portland Group was represented by Lynn McGrade, Donna Spagnolo, Larissa Tkachenko, Scott McEvoy, Kelly Zalec, Shannon Rattray, Jennifer Wilson, Neda Bizzotto, Catherine Bray, Graham King, Ruth Liu, Richard Austin, Eric Dufour, Jeff Mitchell, Azeema Bheda, John Vellone and Andrew Bunston of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and Marcia Stewart, Julie Clarke, Lorainne Sullivan and Henrietta Vandriel of Portland Holdings Inc.

Manulife Financial Corporation was represented by Terry Tone, John Black, Mark Hogan, Janet Lee, Janet Bolton, Paola Guido, Julie Colden and Hemant Tilak of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and J-P. Bisnaire, Bill Dawson, Clive Anderson and Anthony Coulthard from Manulife Financial Corporation.