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SUPPLEMENT TO PROSPECTUS
FOR THE MANUFACTURERS LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA
SEPARATE ACCOUNT A
DATED MAY 1, 1999
CHANGE IN ADDRESS
Effective September 13, 1999, the address of the Company's principal
offices will be:
The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of North America
500 Boylston Street
Suite 400
Boston, MA 02116-3739
The Annuity Service Office mailing address is:
The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of North America
Post Office Box 9230
Boston, MA 02205-9230
PAYMENT ENHANCEMENTS
We are currently offering a new promotional payment enhancement for initial
and subsequent purchase payments to contracts issued on and after June 21, 1999.
Subsequent payments to contracts issued prior to June 21, 1999 will continue to
receive the payments enhancement rates in effect at the time of the issuance of
the contract. The payment enhancement rates, as a percentage of purchase
payments, are as follows:
<TABLE>
CUMULATIVE PURCHASE PAYMENT ENHANCEMENT
PAYMENTS
Guaranteed Rate Promotional Rate Promotional Rate
--------------- ---------------- ----------------
(Contracts Issued Prior (Contracts Issued on or (Contracts Issued on or
to January 1, 1999) After January 1, 1999 but After June 21, 1999)
Prior to June 21, 1999)
<S> <C> <C> <C>
Less than $500,000 3.0% 4.0% 5.0%
$500,000 or more but less
than $2.5 million 4.0% 5.0% 5.5%
$2.5 million or more 5.0% 6.0% 6.0%
</TABLE>
Promotional Payment Enhancement rates may be terminated at any time. Contract
owners should not rely on the promotional payment enhancement being in effect
for subsequent payments.
Payment enhancements are considered to be investment earnings, not purchase
payments, and are taxable as income upon withdrawal.
DEATH BENEFIT DURING THE ACCUMULATION PERIOD
Effective July 30, 1999, if a contract owner dies, we will waive our right to
deduct from the death benefit paid any payment enhancements applied to the
contract in the 12 month period prior to the date of death.
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PAYMENT OF DEATH BENEFIT
The fifth bullet under the heading "Death Benefit During the Accumulation
Period - Payment of Death Benefit" is amended as follows:
* If the beneficiary is not the deceased's owner spouse, distribution of
the contract owner's entire interest in the contract must be made
within five years of the owner's death, or alternatively, distribution
may be made as an annuity, under one of the annuity options described
below, which begins within one year of the owner's death and is
payable over the life of the beneficiary or over a period not
extending beyond the life expectancy of the beneficiary. Upon the
death of the beneficiary, the death benefit will equal the contract
value and must be distributed immediately in a single sum.
TRANSFERS AMONG INVESTMENT OPTIONS
The following disclosure supplements the disclosure under "Transfers Among
Investment Options."
"Where permitted by law, we may accept your authorization for a third party to
make transfers for you subject to our rules. However, the contract is not
designed for professional market timing organizations or other entities or
persons engaging in programmed, frequent or large exchanges (collectively,
"market timers") to speculate on short-term movements in the market since such
activity may be disruptive to the Trust portfolios and increase their
transaction costs. Therefore, in order to prevent excessive use of the exchange
privilege, we reserve the right to (a) reject or restrict any specific purchase
and exchange requests and (b) impose specific limitations with respect to market
timers including restricting exchanges by market timers to certain variable
investment options (transfers by market timers into or out of fixed investment
options is not permitted)."
INFORMATION REGARDING THE ULTIMATE PARENT COMPANY OF THE MANUFACTURERS LIFE
INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA
The second paragraph under "The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of
North America" is amended and restated as follows:
"On January 20, 1998, the Board of Directors of The Manufacturers Life Insurance
Company ("Manulife"), our ultimate parent company, announced that it had asked
the management of Manulife to prepare a plan for conversion of Manulife from a
mutual life insurance company to a publicly traded, shareholder-owned company.
On May 19, 1999 this plan was approved by the Board of Directors of Manulife and
on July 29, 1999, Manulife's eligible policyholders voted in favor of
demutualization. Provided that all necessary regulatory approvals are obtained,
Manulife expects that demutualization will take place in Autumn, 1999."
DISTRIBUTION OF CONTRACTS
The following replaces the sixth sentence of the paragraph under the
heading "General Matters - Distribution of Contracts."
"Wood Logan is a wholly owned subsidiary of a holding company that is 78.4%
owned by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.) and 21.6% owned by
MRL Holding, LLC."
SUPPLEMENT DATED SEPTEMBER 13, 1999.
