CIBC World Markets to Acquire Accenture's Venture and Investment Portfolio.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2002

CIBC World Markets, the investment and merchant banking arm of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), announced today that it has reached an agreement with Accenture to acquire the company's venture and investment portfolio.

The portfolio consists of approximately 80 early and mid-stage technology companies, primarily in the software sector. The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2002 and is subject to transfer approvals from companies within the portfolio. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Accenture (NYSE: ACN), the world's leading management consulting and technology services organization, will retain a 5 percent stake in the portfolio. In addition, Accenture and CIBC World Markets plan to enter into an alliance intended to provide CIBC World Markets with access to Accenture's expertise and knowledge of the technology sector while enabling Accenture to continue to build on its relationships with the portfolio companies.

"The transaction is an attractive investment opportunity for CIBC World Markets' Merchant Banking Group. The Accenture venture and investment portfolio complements our Merchant Bank's existing technology investments and represents a key step toward focusing our professionals' expertise in select investment areas," said Ken Kilgour, executive vice president of portfolio management and chairman, CIBC Capital Partners.

CIBC World Markets' Merchant Banking Group has expertise in venture capital, buyouts, mezzanine financings and recapitalizations. The group has committed more than $7.2 billion in investments and has merchant banking teams in Boston, New York, Toronto and London.

"The acquisition of Accenture's portfolio clearly demonstrates our commitment to the technology sector generally, and software specifically," said Marshall Heinberg, a CIBC World Markets managing director and head of U.S. Corporate Finance. "This transaction is another illustration of CIBC World Markets' universal banking platform, which includes equity, leveraged finance, merchant banking and M&A, combined with strong, well-recognized equity and high-yield research. We're extremely well-positioned to offer a full range of capital structure solutions to meet all the needs of our mid-sized clients."

The Technology Investment Banking Group at CIBC World Markets has extensive transaction experience in the areas of enterprise and eBusiness software, communications, defense electronics and semiconductors and electronic equipment. CIBC World Markets' technology investment banking team has raised more than $39 billion in equity financings since 1998 and advised on two of the three largest technology mergers and acquisitions transactions in history.

CIBC World Markets is a global provider of corporate and investment banking products, as well as securities brokerage and asset management services, to corporate, government, institutional and high net-worth individual clients. A division of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, one of the largest banks in North America, CIBC World Markets has become one of Wall Street's fastest-growing investment banks, with strengths in underwriting, M&A advisory, equity research, high yield, and securitization.

CIBC in your community: CIBC World Markets annually donates millions of dollars to children's charities through its December Miracle Day event. Since its beginning in 1984, Miracle Day has raised and distributed more than $60 million to more than 1,000 charities dedicated to answering children's needs throughout the world. To learn more about Miracle Day and how CIBC World Markets makes a difference in children's lives, go to www.cibcwm.com.