OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC, MFC.TO) announced Monday
it has agreed to reinsure $13 billion of reserves across four legacy/low ROE
blocks, including $6 billion, or 14% of total long-term care (LTC) reserves, to
Global Atlantic and its partners.

The transaction is priced at a one times book value multiple, with a modest
negative ceding commission on LTC and structured settlement blocks, offset by a
positive ceding commission on the Japan blocks.

The deal is a full risk transfer, and includes significant structural
protections, including over-collateralized trusts to hold investment assets. The
reinsurance represents an 80% quota share of the ceded LTC blocks and 100% quota
share of the other ceded blocks.

Manulife will continue to administer all reinsured policies for a seamless
customer service experience. The transaction is expected to close in the first
half of 2024 and is subject to regulatory approval.

The transaction is expected to release $1.2 billion of capital and Manulife
intends to return the full amount of freed up capital to shareholders via share
buybacks.

The company has also received approval from the Office of the Superintendent of
Financial Institutions (OSFI) to launch a normal course issuer bid (NCIB) that
permits the purchase for cancellation of up to approximately 2.8% of our
outstanding common shares commencing February 2024. The NCIB remains subject to
the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.



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