AM Best Assigns Issue Credit Ratings to Manulife Financial Corporation’s New Senior Unsecured Notes and New Shelf Registration

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has assigned Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings (Long-Term IR) of “a-” (Excellent) to the recently announced $750 million of 3.703% senior unsecured notes, due 2032. Concurrently, AM Best has assigned indicative Long-Term IRs of “a-” (Excellent) to senior unsecured issues, “bbb+” (Good) to subordinated issues and “bbb” (Good) to preferred securities issues to the recently filed shelf registration of Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) (Toronto, Canada). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The senior unsecured notes were issued as senior unsecured green notes, and MFC intends to use the proceeds to finance or refinance, in part or full, new or existing eligible green assets. Additionally, with the issuance of the senior unsecured notes and recent redemption of its Class 1 Series 23 and Series 7 preferred shares, MFC’s financial leverage and interest coverage ratios remain within an appropriate range for the company’s current ratings.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.

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