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SUPPLEMENT TO PROSPECTUS FOR VENTURE SURVIVORSHIP VARIABLE UNIVERSAL LIFE
(ISSUED BY SEPARATE ACCOUNT THREE OF THE MANUFACTURERS LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
OF AMERICA) DATED MAY 1, 1996 AS AMENDED AUGUST 14, 1996
AND SUPPLEMENT TO PROSPECTUS FOR MANULIFE SERIES FUND, INC. DATED AUGUST 14,
1996
This Supplement updates certain information in the Prospectuses named above.
Please read it and keep it with your Prospectuses for future reference.
(I)
On September 27, 1996, at a meeting of the Board of Directors of Manulife
Series Fund, Inc. (the "Fund"), the Board voted to approve a reorganization
(the "Reorganization") of the Fund that will combine each of the nine
portfolios of the Fund with a newly created or existing portfolio of NASL
Series Trust (the "Trust"), an open end management investment company advised
by NASL Financial Services, Inc. ("NASL Financial"), the ultimate parent of
which is The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company ("Manulife"). Manulife is
also the ultimate parent of the Fund's current investment adviser,
Manufacturers Adviser Corporation. The Reorganization is scheduled to take
effect December 31, 1996.
The Reorganization will be effected by transferring all of the assets and
liabilities of a Fund portfolio to the corresponding portfolio of the Trust in
exchange for shares of such corresponding Trust portfolio. As a result of the
Reorganization, each shareholder of a Fund portfolio will receive that number of
shares of the corresponding Trust portfolio equal in value at the time of the
exchange to the value of such shareholder's shares of the Fund portfolio on such
date. However, because the per share value of the two Money Market portfolios
will differ, shareholders of the Fund Money-Market portfolio will, after
completion of the Reorganization, own a different number of shares of the
Trust Money Market portfolio, even though the value of their shares will not
have changed.
The table below identifies the specific Trust portfolio into which each Fund
portfolio will reorganize as well as the adviser, subadviser, and advisory fees
and other expenses for the Trust portfolio. NASL Financial is the adviser to
each Trust portfolio although each portfolio will have a subadviser as noted
below. The Money-Market Portfolio of the Fund will reorganize into the Trust
Money Market Portfolio, an existing series of the Trust which has substantially
similar investment objectives to the Fund Money-Market Portfolio. The Common
Stock, Pacific Rim Emerging Markets, Real Estate Securities, Capital Growth Bond
and Equity Index Portfolios of the Fund will reorganize into newly organized
series of the Trust created for the purpose of operating as successors to the
corresponding Fund portfolio. The investment objectives of these Fund
portfolios will remain substantially the same and Manufacturers Adviser
Corporation ("MAC") will manage the corresponding portfolios in a subadviser
capacity. The International, Emerging Growth Equity and Balanced Assets
portfolios will reorganize into newly organized portfolios of the Trust that
will be subadvised by an adviser other than MAC with objectives that are similar
but not identical to those of the corresponding Fund portfolio.
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<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Total Fund
Fund Portfolio Newly Organized Trust Portfolio Trust Portfolio Advisory Other Operating
Trust Portfolio Adviser SubAdviser Fee Expenses*** Expenses
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Money-Market Fund Money Market Trust NASL Financial Manufacturers 0.50% 0.04% 0.54%
Adviser Corporation
International Fund International Stock NASL Financial Rowe Price - 1.05% 0.20% 1.25%
Trust Fleming
International, Inc.
Emerging Growth Emerging Growth NASL Financial Warburg, Pincus 1.05% 0.10% 1.15%
Equity Fund Trust Counsellors, Inc.
Balanced Assets Balanced Trust NASL Financial Founders Asset 0.80% 0.15% 0.95%
Fund Management, Inc.
Common Stock Fund Common Stock Trust NASL Financial Manufacturers 0.44%** 0.06% 0.50%**
Adviser Corporation
Pacific Rim Pacific Rim NASL Financial Manufacturers 0.85% 0.30% 1.15%
Emerging Markets Emerging Markets Adviser Corporation
Fund Trust
Real Estate Real Estate NASL Financial Manufacturers 0.40%** 0.10% 0.50%**
Securities Fund Securities Trust Adviser Corporation
Capital Growth Capital Growth NASL Financial Manufacturers 0.40%** 0.10% 0.50%**
Bond Fund Bond Trust Adviser Corporation
Equity Index Fund Equity Index Trust NASL Financial Manufacturers 0.25% 0.15% 0.40%
Adviser Corporation
</TABLE>
The Reorganization is subject to the approval of the shareholders of each
Fund portfolio and a shareholders meeting is scheduled to be held December
20, 1996 regarding this matter. Therefore, shareholders of record of the
Fund on October 23, 1996 will receive notice of this meeting as well as a
proxy statement which will explain in more detail the terms of the
Reorganization.
**"Total Fund Operating Expenses" reflect the agreement by NASL Financial
voluntarily to waive fees payable to it and/or reimburse expenses for a
period of one year following the consummation of the Reorganization to the
extent necessary to prevent "Total Fund Operating Expenses" for each
indicated NASL portfolio for such period from exceeding .50% of average net
assets. "Advisory Fees" for each indicated NASL portfolio reflect estimated
fee waivers by NASL Financial pursuant to such agreement; absent such
waivers, "Advisory Fees" would be .70%, .70% and .65% for the NASL Common
Stock Trust, NASL Real Estate Securities Trust and NASL Capital Growth Bond
Trust, respectively.
***"Other Expenses" include custody fees, registration fees, legal fees, audit
fees, trustees' fees, insurance fees and other miscellaneous expenses. The
amounts in the table above are expense estimates for the first year based on
historical NASL new portfolio cash inflows. NASL Financial has agreed to
reduce its advisory fee or reimburse the Trust to the extent expenses
(excluding taxes, portfolio brokerage, commissions, interest, litigation and
indemnification expenses and other extraordinary expenses not incurred in the
ordinary course of business) exceed 0.75% for the International Stock Trust
and Pacific Rim Emerging Markets Trust, 0.15% for the Equity Index Trust, and
0.50% in the case of the other portfolios of the Trust of the average annual
net assets of such Trust portfolio.
The last four sentences of the third paragraph of the Capital Growth Bond Fund
disclosure on page 12 of the prospectus are replaced with the following:
"Government obligations in which the Capital Growth Bond Fund may invest
include those of foreign governments provided they are denominated in U.S.
dollars. The Fund may purchase other securities issued by non U.S. issuers if
denominated in U.S. dollars and issued pursuant to U.S. federal securities
regulations. The Fund may also purchase securities on a forward-commitment,
when-issued or delayed-delivery basis. For a discussion of these securities,
please see the Statement of Additional Information."
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(II)
The paragraph entitled "Taxation of Policy Split Option" under the
heading "Tax Treatment of Policy Benefits" is revised to read as
follows:
This option permits a Policy to be split into two other individual
policies upon the occurrence of a divorce of the lives insured or
certain changes in federal estate tax law. The purchase and exercise
of the policy split option could have adverse tax consequences. For
example, it is not clear whether a policy split will be treated as a
nontaxable exchange under Sections 1031 through 1043 of the Code. If a
policy split is not treated as a nontaxable exchange, a split could
result in the recognition of taxable income in an amount up to any gain
in the Policy at the time of the split. It is also not clear whether
the cost of the policy split option, which is deducted monthly from
Policy Value, will be treated as a taxable distribution. Before
purchasing the policy split option or exercising rights provided by the
policy split option, please consult with a competent tax adviser
regarding the possible consequences.
(III)
The fourth paragraph under the heading Manulife Series Fund and NASL
Series Trust is hereby amended. The sentence which currently reads
"Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides investment subadvisory
services to the Value Equity Trust" is replaced by the following
sentence:
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. provides investment subadvisory services
to the Value Equity Trust.
This change in subadviser will be voted upon by shareholders of record
of the Value Equity Trust at the close of business on October 23, 1996
at a shareholders meeting to be held by NASL Series Trust December 20,
1996.
The Date of this Supplement is October 1, 1996.
