Manulife Financial announces sale of Life Retrocession business to Pacific Life

Torys acted as Canadian counsel to Manulife Financial with a team that included David Seville, Blair Keefe and Dan Logan (insurance regulatory), Tom Zverina (lending), Jay Holsten (competition), Mitch Frazer and Adrienne DiPaolo (employment) and Sean Adair and Michael Sabet.

On July 18, 2011, Manulife Financial Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Life Retrocession business to Pacific Life Insurance Company. The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the third quarter 2011. The transaction is expected to result in an after-tax gain on sale of approximately C$275 million. Manulife's Life Retrocession business has approximately 90 employees in offices in Toronto, Boston, Barbados and Cologne. The unit assumes risk from life reinsurers and has net life insurance in-force of US$106 billion. This transaction does not impact Manulife's other Reinsurance business units, which focus on Property and Casualty Retrocession and International Employee Benefits Management.

Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group operating in 22 countries and territories worldwide.

Pacific Life Insurance Company, based in the United States, provides a wide range of life insurance products, annuities and mutual funds, and offers a variety of investment products and services to individuals, businesses and pension plans.

Further information is found on Manulife Financial's website.