Mr. Oliver Williams reports

MANULIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCES MINORITY PARTNERSHIP WITH PARREIRA ALMOND HOLDING COMPANY, LLC

Manulife Financial Corp.'s Manulife Investment Management has formed a minority partnership with Parreira Almond Holding Company LLC (PAHC), a family-owned almond hulling, shelling, processing and marketing company, on behalf of its clients. The minority investment will position PAHC and its wholly owned subsidiaries, RPAC LLC (RPAC) and Parreira Almond Processing Company LLC (PPAC), for future growth as well as continue to provide a consistent volume of high-quality California-grown and U.S.-grown almonds through both investments in the existing operations and from further acquisitions.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Parreira family who have been in the almond processing business, a farmland plus investment, for more than 50 years. They understand the complexities of agriculture and take a long-term view to growing, processing and marketing almonds," said Oliver Williams, global head of agricultural investments, Manulife Investment Management. "We also believe this investment will bring additional risk mitigation to our overall agricultural platform on behalf of our investors."

Farmland plus refers to investments in companies and assets that combine farm production with processing and marketing, and substantially expands the range of investment options beyond pure farmland investments. These investments are intended to mitigate risk and potentially enhance return of a permanent cropland portfolio and may bring additional value capture, increased revenues and returns, enhanced diversification, and access to various end markets and a reduction in price volatility.

Paul Parreira, PAHC's managing partner, added, "We are excited by this investment and partnership, and we look forward to growing the business together and continuing to supply our customers with high-quality almonds for generations to come."

Manulife Investment Management is the largest manager of natural capital in the world. It manages approximately 400,000 acres of prime farmland in major agricultural regions of the United States and in Canada, Chile, and Australia as part of its comprehensive private markets strategies. Its entire U.S. agriculture platform is certified to the Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard, demonstrating a commitment to sustainable practices, robust management and continuous improvement. It also oversees approximately six million acres of timberland across the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Chile, and 100 per cent of those forests are certified under either the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).