Four senior executives have departed Manulife Securities International Ltd. in the wake of the brokerage firm’s ties to collapsed hedge fund Portus Alternative Asset Management Inc.

Bruce Norgren, who served as chief compliance officer, and Michael Novak, chief legal counsel, both left within the past three weeks.

Manulife Financial Corp., has also confirmed that Manulife Securities president and CEO Greg Gray, and manager of investment research, Jeff Plate, have both left the brokerage.

Manulife Securities struck a referral arrangement with Toronto-based Portus in August 2003. Portus had more than $800 million in assets and 26,000 investors last March, when it was forced into receivership by the Ontario Securities Commission.

The OSC charged Portus co-founder Boaz Manor last week with violating provincial securities laws, and filed formal allegations against three other former Portus executives.

Portus did not sell its product directly but relied on referrals from outside salespeople. Manulife Securities and its 300 independent advisers referred 8,300 clients, who invested a total of about $235 million.

Manulife Financial has guaranteed the client investments, and the insurer took a $40-million Portus-related charge in the first quarter.