Manulife Financial Corp. is reassuring clients of advisors licensed by subsidiary Manulife Securities International Ltd. that it will guarantee the recovery of 100% of their principal invested in products of Portus Alternative Asset Management Inc.

In an open letter to clients Thursday, president and CEO Dominic D’Alessandro said he is leading a senior executive team at Manulife charged with resolving as quickly as possible the situation regarding Portus, which is under investigation by a number of regulatory authorities.

“While a complete picture of the situation has yet to develop, we do know that the Portus products and investment structures were not as represented by Portus and not as understood by MSIL and others,” D’Alessandro says in his letter. “Among the many complexities is the involvement of a number of domestic and foreign entities whose exact role in this structure is not yet clear. Also frustrating is that we have no means to compel the timely cooperation of Portus or the other individuals and companies involved. It is likely therefore that we are
still some weeks away from getting all of the information required to determine how best to resolve the
situation.

“In the meantime, I want to reassure you that whatever the outcome of the investigation, Manulife Financial guarantees that you will recover 100% of the principal amount you invested with Portus. We will, in effect, “stand in your shoes” and aggressively pursue all avenues to secure and recover invested funds.”

D’Alessandro said in the letter that Manulife will pursue “all avenues” to secure and recover invested funds. Based on information from its investigations to date, Manulife said it does not believe its financial exposure will be significant but is acting now to provide certainty to MSIL clients.