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BOSTON, Aug. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Hancock Natural Resource Group (HNRG), a company of Manulife Investment Management, through its affiliate Rio Verde Holding Ltda., recently acquired two operating companies with land use rights to 43,332 hectares of highly productive eucalyptus plantations in Mato Grosso do Sul from Copa Gestão de Investimentos Ltda., ("Copa") on behalf of its clients. The acquisition is the second timberland investment by Manulife Investment Management in the region this year. It is a strategic priority for the firm to expand its timberland portfolio in Brazil and, more broadly, to grow its private markets' global capabilities across real assets, and private equity and credit.

The plantations supply the increasing demand from the bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp mills and benefit from being closely located to the pulp producers. Copa has provided state of the art technology to sustainably grow and maintain the forests which has resulted in top quartile plantations for the region.

"We are pleased to announce this transaction to further build our investment platform in Brazil, which will benefit from the additional size and scale provided by the acquisition of these plantations," said Tom Sarno, global head of timberland investments, Manulife Investment Management. "Finding high-quality assets, and working strategically with key Brazilian counterparties, continues to be a key focus to enhance and diversify clients' portfolios."

Manulife Investment Management manages approximately 5.7 million acres of timberland across the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Chile. It also oversees approximately 400,000 acres of prime farmland in major agricultural regions of the United States and in Canada, Chile, and Australia. This is the third acquisition the timberland and agriculture team has closed in South America in 2021.

About Manulife Investment Management Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement.

As of June 30, 2021, Manulife Investment Management had CAD $1.0 trillion (US $834 billion) in assets under management and administration. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

About Copa

Founded in 2012, Copa Investimentos (Copa) is an independent Brazilian investment management firm exclusively focused on timberland and rural real estate investments. Copa manages funds that are involved in the establishment, acquisition and management of plantation forests and rural real estate. The founding partners of Copa Investimentos are working together since 2005, having contributed to the development of the Brazilian timberland investment market. In this period, they participated in the structuring of the first Brazilian timberland funds and of some of the main transactions and investments in the industry. The firm is wholly owned by its executives and Copa's partnership and remuneration frameworks are based on meritocracy and long-term alignment of interests.

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SOURCE Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management acquires additional eucalyptus plantations in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil