BOSTON, MA, October 15, 2005 - The Hancock Timber Resource Group today announced a number of senior management changes. The management changes follow HTRG's recently announced acquisition of Pru Timber and of 930,000 acres of timberland or timber rights from Harvard Management Company.

• Bruce McKnight has been named Managing Director and Chief Operations Officer and will be responsible for the HTRG forestry operations worldwide.
• Bob Hagler, who joined HTRG with the Pru Timber deal, has been named Director of International Investment Strategies and Economic Research.
• Karl Kny has been named Managing Director, Australasia Region, and will oversee HTRG's business in Australia and New Zealand. He also will be managing director of Hancock Victorian Plantations.

"With the Pru Timber and Harvard deals, our operation is growing dramatically, and will increase to 3.5 million acres and approximately $5 billion in assets under management," said Dan Christensen, HTRG's Chief Executive Officer. "In light of this growth, these senior management changes further strengthen our business and position us to provide even stronger service to our clients in the future.

Mr. McKnight, who joined HTRG in 1997, is responsible for HTRG forestry operations worldwide, including property management, global resource information and planning, policy development and risk management. HTRG's Australasia businesses also will report to him

Before taking on this new role, Mr. McKnight was Managing Director, Australasia, overseeing HTRG's business in Australia and New Zealand. Earlier, Mr. McKnight was President of Hancock Forest Management (HFM), the company's property management subsidiary, and Director of Forest Operations and Stewardship.

He is a director of HFM, vice president of Cahaba Forest LLC, White River Forests LLC and John Hancock Timber Resource Corporation. He also is a member of Hancock Natural Resource Group's Investment Committee.

Before joining HTRG, Mr. McKnight was Managing Director of James River Timber Corporation, responsible for the company's $60 million Maine timberland operations. He graduated from the University of Maine with an MBA and a B.S. in Forest Engineering.

Mr. Hagler, who joined HTRG with the Pru Timber acquisition, is responsible for identifying international investments within the corporate investment strategy, expanding HTRG participation in Latin American forest investments, expanding European business development and overseeing HTRG's timber investment economic research.

Previously, he developed and implemented an international timber investment program with Prudential Timber Investments, and spent 18 years consulting to the global forests industry with Arthur D. Little, and as President of Wood Resources International Ltd., a global forest industry consulting firm he founded in 1987.

Mr. Hagler graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with a B.S. in Forest Resource Management and he earned an MBA from Pennsylvania State University.

Mr. Kny, who joined HTRG in 1999, assumes overall responsibility for HTRG's business in Australia and New Zealand, which will increase significantly with the Pru Timber and Harvard acquisitions. Previously, he was Regional Manager for Australasia, and oversaw the firm's regional office in Melbourne, Australia.

Before joining HTRG, Mr. Kny worked as general manager, corporate development for Amcor, a large international forestry, pulp, paper and packaging group. He also was a consulting expert for Macquarie Bank where he advised on acquisitions and valuations in the forestry, pulp and paper sector. Mr. Kny has more than 20 years of experience in operations, acquisitions, planning and finance. He has worked for several large forest products and paper companies in Australasia and has international experience in Southeast Asia and Europe.

He graduated from Melbourne University with an MBA, a B.S. in Geology/Geophysics and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.

HTRG, a division of Hancock Natural Resource Group, Inc, an operating company of MFC Global Investment Management, manages timberland in the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast United States as well as Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Additional information about HTRG may be found at its website: www.hancocktimber.com.

MFC Global Investment Management is the institutional asset management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation. Based in North America with investment offices in Toronto, Boston, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, the firm has more than 100 years of experience managing funds. Additional information about MFC Global Investment Management may be found at its website: www.mfcglobal.com.

Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$364 billion (US$297 billion) as at June 30, 2005.