Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp. has closed its purchase of Burlington, Ont.-based Berkshire-TWC Financial Group Inc. Combined with Manulife’s existing operation, Manulife Securities International Ltd., the transaction creates a sales force of 1,500 advisors and a business with $19 billion in assets under administration.

“When coupled with our own Manulife Securities, this doubles our number of wealth-management advisors across Canada and triples assets under administration,” Paul Rooney, president and CEO of Manulife Canada, said in a press release.

The transaction adds more than 700 advisors and 237 branches. Berkshire will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Manulife.