BlackRock Preferred Opportunity Trust Announces First Dividend.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2003

The Board of Trustees of the BlackRock Preferred Opportunity Trust (NYSE: BPP), today declared the Trust's first monthly dividend, payable on April 30, 2003, for shareholders of record as of April 25, 2003. The initial dividend information for the Trust appears below. -0-

BlackRock Preferred Opportunity Trust (BPP):

Monthly Dividend:                                  $0.166667
Yield on Stock Price ($24.92):                          8.03%
(As of April 14, 2003)
Annualized Dividend:                                   $2.00
Yield on Offering Price ($25.00):                      8.00%

This Trust, launched in February 2003, is a newly organized closed-end investment company with the investment objective of seeking high current income consistent with capital preservation.

About BlackRock. BlackRock is one of the largest publicly traded investment management firms in the United States with approximately $274 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2003. 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.