Manulife To Buy Canadian Operations Of Standard Life For C$4 Bln

(RTTNews) - Life insurer Manulife Financial Corp (MFC, MFC.TO) Wednesday agreed to acquire the Canadian operations of Standard Life Plc for about C$4 billion in cash.

Manulife, based in Toronto, Canada, said the deal will add three cents a year to earnings per share over the next three years.

The deal is to close in the first quarter of 2015.

"This transaction significantly builds our capability to serve customers in all of Canada, and elsewhere in the world," said Donald Guloien, chief executive officer of Manulife.

Guloien also said the deal Manulife's presence in Quebec and expands investment capabilities globally.

Standard Life, based in Edinburgh, is the fifth-larges insurer in Canada with C$52 billion in assets under management. Manulife said the deal builds on an already established and successful wealth and asset management partnership with Standard Life.

Manulife said the deal will be funded, in part, from the net proceeds of the issuance of about C$2.1 billion of subscription receipts by way of a C$1.6 billion public bought deal and a concurrent private placement to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for C$500 million.

The balance of the acquisition funding will be from internal resources and possible future debt and/or preferred share issuances.