July 29, 2002

In an effort to make searching easier and more flexible, we�re making enhancements to Mergerstat, and wanted to let you know ahead of time. The following information provides details of the exciting new developments that will be available to you later this week. If you have any questions please contact Alacra Customer Service at +1 888 333 0820 within the US, 1 212 363 9620 in New York or +44 (0)20 3059 5765 in Europe, or email Customer Service. We�ll be happy to assist you with your first search using the new interface.

New Main Page:
You no longer have to decide what report you want before you do your search. Now simply select whether you are looking for deals on one company, or multiple companies.

• Detailed Transaction Reports on specific deals
  Find deals where a specific company was involved as buyer, target or either. Results display list of deals with buyer, seller and announce date; select one or more for a detailed report on each deal
• Custom, Ranking and Volume Reports for multiple deals
  Look for deals meeting specific criteria of the buyer, target or terms of the deal. Create a custom report, or select from pre-formatted reports including Premiums, Multiples and Summary. Ranking and Volume Reports also available.
• Mergerstat Review
  Access analysis of historical deals.
• New eMonthly Reports for Mergerstat Subscribers
  If you are a subscriber to Mergerstat data in Alacra, you will have an additional option on the main search page to access these reports.
  What deals are shaping the future of your industry? Will deal flow speed up or slow down? Will M&A costs go up or down? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Mergerstat's insightful eMonthly newsletter. Packed with valuable information pulled from Mergerstat's leading M&A database, the eMonthly contains analysis and graphics that go beyond simple anecdotal information to the statistical truth of what's happening in today's M&A world. Download a sample.

New combined US and International Databases:
Now you can search US, International, or Both databases at the same time! Both the Detailed and Custom search screens have options at the top for US, International, or Both (default is both). However, you must have access to the international database in order to get international deals in your results. If you are a subscriber to the U.S. database, contact Mergerstat for information on subscribing to the International portion.

New Custom Search Screen:
The search screen now includes the search criteria only; you will no longer have to select your report items before knowing how many deals met your criteria.

New Report Selection Screen:
After you search for deals you can choose a custom, pre-defined or ranking/volume report. This new format allows you to save a search with one type of report, and then recall it later and select a different report (you could not do this before).

New Searching Flexibility:
Mergerstat now allows you to set up multiple sets of search criteria and then use AND, OR, or NOT logic to get exactly the types of deals you want. For example, finding deals in the Communications Industry OR with keyword �internet� in the business description previously required two separate searches. Now you can click the �Add Set� button to return to the search screen and enter a separate set of criteria. Once you have more than one set of criteria defined, you may enter the logic you want to apply to the search. (See screen shot below)

For more information, please contact Alacra at 1 888 333 0820 within the US, 1 212 363 9620 in New York or 44 (0)20 3059 5765 in Europe, or email us at [email protected].