Acuity Capital Management Announcement.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 2004

Acuity Capital Management LLC (Acuity) announced today that it has received capital from JPMorgan Incubator Strategies, a division of J.P. Morgan Partners, as part of a strategic partnership. David J. Harris and Howard Needle manage the convertible arbitrage business which launched on July 7, 2003. Acuity's investment objective is to preserve capital, while exploiting the systemic inefficiencies of global convertible securities markets. Acuity attempts to produce attractive, stable returns of 10-12% net of fees. Acuity Capital Management is based in Greenwich, CT.

Acuity is jointly managed by Mr. Harris and Mr. Needle, whom have worked together since 1995. They have extensive experience in evaluating, pricing, and structuring convertible securities.

Mr. Harris has been in the equity and convertible markets for 19 years. He worked at Banc of America Securities as a Managing Director and Partner, managing the convertible sales and trading operations. Previously, Mr. Harris ran the proprietary global convertible business at Bankers Trust managing a $2 billion portfolio. He began his career at Salomon Brothers as an equity block trader and convertible trader. At Bankers Trust and Banc of America, he was responsible for overall risk management and portfolio construction. He earned a BS in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1984.

Mr. Needle has spent the past 15 years working in the convertible market. Most recently he managed a proprietary global convertible portfolio of $300 million at Greenwich Capital. From 1998 to 2002 he worked at Banc of America Securities as a Managing Director and Partner managing the convertible sales operations. Prior to Banc of America he managed the convertible sales operations at Bankers Trust. He started his career at Lehman Brothers in 1988 as a convertible salesman. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Harvard College in 1984 and an MBA degree in Finance from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1988.

The investment will be made through JP Morgan Incubator Fund (JPMIF), a fund of funds established in February 2003 and managed by the JP Morgan Incubator Strategies (JPMIS), division of JP Morgan Partners. The investment in Acuity represents JPMIF's fifth hedge fund investment. JPMIS's CEO, Simon Lack, has had extensive experience investing in hedge funds as well as managing derivatives trading businesses since joining JPMorgan in 1986.