Hancock Victorian Plantations to Acquire Australian Paper Plantations Pty Ltd From Paperlinx

BOSTON, July 30, 2001 - Hancock Victorian Plantations Pty Ltd (HVP) today announced it had agreed to acquire all the shares of Australian Paper Plantations Pty Ltd (APP) from PaperlinX (ASX:PPX) for $77.2 million.

The transaction, expected to close August 31, subject to regulatory approvals, represents all of PaperlinX's plantation assets in the Gippsland region of the state of Victoria, Australia.

The property includes 134,862 acres of pine and eucalypt plantations, and was the second largest privately owned timber plantation in Australia.

Bill Coleman, president and Chief Executive Officer of Boston-based Hancock Natural Resource Group, Inc. (HNRG), said "This acquisition is strategic for HVP and brings synergies to our organizations and economies of scale to our operations. It extends our global presence and adds a greater measure of diversification to our clients' portfolios."

The Hancock Timber Resource Group (HTRG), a unit of HNRG, oversees the operations of HVP, which is owned jointly by U.S. and Australian institutional investors. "This is our 53rd transaction," Coleman said. "Of 52 prior transactions, when a purchase and sale agreement was signed, we closed all of them for a combined total of $2.8 billion."

The purchase of PaperlinX's plantations consolidates HVP's Gippsland operations and its position as Australia's largest private plantation owner, with 545,862 acres under management.

According to Coleman, APP and HVP will consolidate their operations in the Gippsland region into Grand Ridge Plantations PTY Ltd which will manage the combined properties.

"Grand Ridge Plantations will continue to manage the properties with a long-term, sustainable perspective," Coleman said. "We believe good stewardship is good business. The plantations will be managed in accordance with HVP's environmental policies and the Code of Forest Practices for timber production in Victoria."

As part of the acquisition, HVP also acquires 64,560 acres of non-plantation land, including firebreaks, roads and other non-forested areas of native vegetation. Coleman said native forest vegetation accounted for nearly half of the non-plantation assets, and that HVP's policy is to manage and protect these lands.

HTRG is the world's leading timberland investment management organization for institutional clients. Including this current transaction, HTRG has $2.7 billion and 3 million acres under management in North America and Australia.

HNRG is an indirect subsidiary of John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:JHF).