BlackRock, Inc. to Acquire Fund of Hedge Funds Manager, HPB Management, LLC; Howard Berkowitz to Lead Fund of Funds Effort.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 14, 2003

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in HPB Management, LLC ("HPB"), a $150 million fund of hedge funds manager that was founded by Howard P. Berkowitz.

At closing, Mr. Berkowitz will join BlackRock as a Managing Director and CEO of the firm's fund of hedge funds business. The terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close by April 30, 2003, were not disclosed.

"Fund of funds is a natural extension of our alternative investment offerings, enabling us to further leverage BlackRock's broad product knowledge and risk management capabilities on behalf of our institutional and high net worth clients," commented Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. "We are very excited to welcome Howard to our team and are confident that our fund of funds effort will benefit tremendously from his vast experience and leadership."

Mr. Berkowitz comes to BlackRock with more than 30 years of experience managing hedge funds and fund of funds products. Since January 1, 2000, HPB has managed a fund of hedge funds product principally on behalf of high net worth investors. From 1979 through 1999, the fund was structured as an equity hedge fund managed directly by Mr. Berkowitz and his colleagues. Prior to forming the fund, Mr. Berkowitz was a founding partner of Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., an equity hedge fund established in 1967.

"I am very pleased to be affiliating with BlackRock, which has long distinguished itself as an organization committed to serving its clients with the highest quality investment and risk management products," stated Mr. Berkowitz. "I firmly believe that together we can build an exceptional platform for serving both institutional and high net worth investors who have demonstrated increasing interest in fund of fund products."

Following closing, the HPB and BlackRock fund of hedge funds teams will be integrated under Mr. Berkowitz's leadership and will consist of seven dedicated employees. The team will be responsible for manager research, selection and monitoring, and is expected to offer a variety of fund of hedge fund products designed to meet the needs of institutional and high net worth investors. In addition, the fund of funds effort will be supported by BlackRock's worldwide resources, including risk management, operations, administration, marketing and client service professionals. BlackRock's fund of funds business will be based in the firm's New York City headquarters.

About BlackRock. BlackRock is one of the largest publicly traded investment management firms in the United States with $273 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2002. BlackRock manages assets on behalf of institutional and individual investors worldwide through a variety of equity, fixed income, liquidity and alternative investment products. In addition, BlackRock provides risk management and investment system services to a growing number of institutional investors under the BlackRock Solutions name. Clients are served from the Company's headquarters in New York City, as well as offices in Boston, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Tokyo and Wilmington. BlackRock is majority-owned by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) and by BlackRock employees.

Forward Looking Statements. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act with respect to future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "trend," "opportunity," "pipeline," "believe," "comfortable," "expect," "current," "intention," "estimate," "position," "assume," "potential," "outlook," "continue," "remain," "maintain," "sustain," "seek," "achieve," and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "may" or similar expressions. BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

In addition to factors previously disclosed in BlackRock's Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC") reports and those identified elsewhere in this report, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or services or in the value of assets under management; (3) the investment performance of BlackRock's advised or sponsored investment products and separately managed accounts; (4) the impact of increased competition; (5) the impact of capital improvement projects; (6) the impact of future acquisitions; (7) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (8) the extent and timing of any share repurchases; (9) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property protection; (10) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to BlackRock or PNC; (11) terrorist activities, which may adversely affect the general economy, financial and capital markets, specific industries, and BlackRock; and (12) the ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals.

BlackRock's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and BlackRock's subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, accessible on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov, identify additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements.