Bear Stearns Hires Antoine Dijkstra and Dominique Favillier to Bolster Its Strategic Finance Expansion in Europe.

LONDON -- As part of Bear Stearns' continued effort to expand its strategic finance effort internationally, the company has appointed Antoine Dijkstra and Dominique Favillier as senior managing directors to assist clients throughout Europe.

Based in London, Mr. Dijkstra and Mr. Favillier will be responsible for providing European customers with financial solutions. Although focusing on financial institutions, they will also have a broader mandate to expand and deepen Bear Stearns' franchise to the public finance sector and corporate clients.

Reporting directly to Michel Peretie, Chief Executive Officer of Bear Stearns in Europe, Mr. Dijkstra and Mr. Favillier will be working alongside Dr. Manfred Puffer, who joined Bear Stearns earlier this year to lead strategic finance for Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe.

"The wealth of experience and depth of relationships that Antoine and Dominique bring greatly enhance our European growth programme," commented Mr. Peretie. "We are building a formidable force of talent to answer the strategic needs of our European clients."

Mr. Dijkstra joins Bear Stearns from NIBC, where he was a member of the board and responsible for the strategic business units for financial markets, real estate markets and investment management. Prior to this, he was a managing director at Zurich Financial Services in charge of setting up the capital markets business in London and Dublin. He also worked for AIG Financial Products and Credit Lyonnais in corporate finance and fixed income products respectively.

Mr. Favillier has 24 years of experience in a wide range of capital market roles with Chase Investment Bank, Swiss Bank Corporation and Tokyo Mitsubishi. Most recently, he was a corporate managing director at ABN AMRO Bank, where he served for seven years and was a founding member of the financial institutions and public sector executive committee.

About Bear Stearns

Bear, Stearns International Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE:BSC) BSIL currently employs over 1,000 staff in London who serve corporations, institutions, partnerships and governmental entities in the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East. BSIL's capabilities include investment banking, institutional equities and fixed income sales, trading and research, derivatives, financial futures, foreign exchange, private client services and global clearing.

Bear, Stearns International Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Founded in 1923, The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE:BSC) is the parent company of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., a leading investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm. With approximately $61.9 billion in total capital, Bear Stearns serves governments, corporations, institutions and individuals worldwide. The company's business includes corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, institutional equities and fixed income sales and trading, securities research, private client services, derivatives, foreign exchange and futures sales and trading, asset management and custody services. Through Bear, Stearns Securities Corp., it offers financing, securities lending, clearing and technology solutions to hedge funds, broker-dealers and investment advisors. Headquartered in New York City, the company has approximately 13,000 employees worldwide. For additional information about Bear Stearns, please visit the firm's web site at www.bearstearns.com.