Manulife Financial Corp. is commencing a voluntary small shareholder sales program through which shareholders owning fewer than 100 shares of Manulife common stock may elect to sell all of their shares.

Participating shareholders will receive the weighted average price of shares sold through the “odd lot” program on the New York Stock Exchange open market during the week in which their shares are sold, less applicable program fees.

The program commences February 5, in North America and will expire at 17:00 ET on March 12, unless extended by Manulife. The program will also be offered to odd-lot shareholders in Hong Kong and the Philippines from February 11 to April 18.

“This voluntary program is designed to provide odd-lot shareholders an economical and convenient means of selling their shares,” says Terri Neville, assistant vp, shareholder services. “Small shareholders who might otherwise have a difficult time selling or face high fees to do so can choose to sell their holdings through the program by Internet, phone or mail. It’s a simple process and the costs are reasonable.”

Manulife has approximately 150,000 odd-lot shareholders worldwide, representing less than one per cent of issued and outstanding common shares. “We offered a similar program in 2005 and more than 45,000 shareholders participated. Their feedback was that they appreciated being offered the opportunity and found the program easy to use,” adds Neville.

The company’s U.S. transfer agent, Mellon Investor Services, is managing the program with all sales being made through NYSE. Canadian account holders will receive their proceeds in Canadian dollars while all other account holders will receive proceeds in U.S. dollars. Materials describing the program details are being mailed to all eligible shareholders.