Chicago area based J-POWER USA Development Co., Ltd. has reached agreement with John Hancock Life Insurance Company on the formation of a US joint venture to be called J-POWER USA Generation.

The venture will initially have 1200 megawatts of net generation ownership in the US made up entirely of long-term contracted assets. The ongoing plan for the venture will include acquiring additional existing, largely contracted, non-regulated assets in the U.S. market with an overall goal of 2000 to 4000 megawatts of net ownership by 2010.

In addition, the joint venture will aggressively begin developing generation on a green field and brown field basis, with contracted off-take. J-POWER will take an active role in all aspects of the business.

"The formation of this joint venture will allow the continued growth of the J-POWER US business on a consistent basis through the combined financial strength and industry experience both J-POWER and John Hancock bring to the venture," said John Salyer, J-POWER USA's President and CEO. "We are very much looking forward to working closely with our new business partners."

With this joint venture with John Hancock, J-POWER expects to maintain flexibility and stability in its international project development and acquisition strategy, especially in the U.S.

John Hancock is the US division of Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corporation. Through John Hancock, MFC is also a leading investor in the US power industry, with a $7 billion power industry portfolio spread across more than 200 US power companies.

"We are delighted that this joint venture with J-Power gives us the opportunity to team with a leading global power company, work with their US officers who have deep experience in the US independent power business, and invest in high quality power plants," said John Anderson, Head of the Power & Project Finance Team in Boston.

J-POWER will act as the managing partner for J-POWER USA Generation and will be responsible for sourcing new projects for investment, developing and operating the assets.

About J-Power

J-POWER USA Development Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of J-POWER North America Holdings Co., Ltd. which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Electric Power Development Co, Ltd. ("J-POWER") with headquarters located in Tokyo, Japan. J-POWER stock is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In FY 2006, J-POWER had revenues of $4.9 Billion USD and assets of approximately $16.9 Billion USD, and employed employs approximately 6,500. J-POWER Group, with 19,000 megawatts net ownership, is one of the world's largest independent generators of electricity with approximately 17,000 megawatts of installed capacity in Japan and 2,000 megawatts of net installed capacity in other world markets.

J-POWER USA has a long-term strategy to acquire, develop, finance and operate power generation facilities in the United States.

About John Hancock and Manulife Financial

John Hancock is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada, Japan and a number of other Asian markets, 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$414 (US$355 billion) as of December 31, 2006.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '0945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at http://www.manulife.com

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings and other forms of business insurance.