Bear Stearns is Ready to Establish Representative Office in Korea; New York-Based Firm Hires Hobart Epstein to Lead New Effort.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2000

Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. announced today that Hobart Lee Epstein has joined the firm as a senior managing director and country manager for Korea. He will also serve as chief representative for the firm's Seoul representative office, which is scheduled to open this summer. The firm has completed the essential procedure with the Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy for the establishment of the office.

Commenting on the appointment and the new representative office, Henry Tsang, president of Bear, Stearns Asia Limited, said, "As we continue the aggressive expansion of our international presence, we believe Hobart is ideally suited to initiate our dedicated Korean investment banking effort and help manage our other Korean activities. His business experience in Korea and his broad knowledge of the securities industry provide Bear Stearns with the footing necessary to build a leading franchise in Korea."

Mr. Epstein, who possesses broad-based investment banking experience and who has worked extensively on debt, equity and derivatives products, will help to expand Bear Stearns Asia's successful investment banking practice, particularly in the telecommunications and technology fields. Among recent transactions, the firm lead managed a $2 billion follow-on equity offering for China Telecom (Hong Kong) Limited, for which it also co-lead managed a $4.2 billion initial public offering, and a $200 million high yield bond offering for Bayan Telecommunications Inc., which reopened the Asian high yield bond market after the Asian financial crisis. Both of these transactions were named Deal of the Year for 1999 by various publications.

Mr. Epstein comes to Bear Stearns from Goldman Sachs, where he was most recently executive director of the Asian Special Situation Group. Prior to that, he was Korea country manager and head of Asian (ex-Japan) equity at CS First Boston, for which he opened the representative and branch offices in Seoul. Mr. Epstein received his MBA from the University of California-Los Angeles in 1981.

Founded in 1923, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. is a leading worldwide investment banking and securities trading and brokerage firm, and the major subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE:BSC). With approximately $23.2 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, trading and research, private client services, derivatives, foreign exchange and futures sales and trading, asset management and custody services. Through Bear, Stearns Securities Corp., it offers global clearing services to broker dealers, prime broker clients and other professional traders, including securities lending. Headquartered in New York City, the company has more than 10,200 employees located in domestic offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Juan; and an international presence in Beijing, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Lugano, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. For additional information about Bear Stearns, please visit our Web site at http://www.bearstearns.com