Christensen & Associates Expands Capabilities, Global Reach with Merger; Leading IR Firm Adds Senior Executives, New Services.

Business Editors

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2001

Howard Christensen, president and chief executive officer of Christensen & Associates (C&A), and Rene Vanguestaine, president and CEO of Equity Market Services Inc., Thursday announced an agreement in principle to merge their common business interests.

Effective Jan. 1, 2002, Christensen and Vanguestaine will become co-chairmen of C&A; Vanguestaine also will assume the role of CEO.

C&A will retain its name and corporate headquarters in Scottsdale, as well as establish a New York presence.

At a time when most investor relations and financial public relations firms are scaling back, C&A is using the merger to expand upon 20 years of service to U.S. clients to help non-U.S. companies gain visibility in North America. "C&A is perfectly positioned to leverage its service platform overseas to fill product and service gaps," said Vanguestaine.

"Foreign companies seeking exposure in the U.S. find it challenging to get the attention of domestic investors in this highly competitive market. C&A offers an exceptional framework to target the right investors, communicate a foreign company's strategy and disclose the information required by U.S. investors."

C&A also expects the transition to strongly benefit current clients by providing access to a larger pool of expertise, as well as an expanded product range.

According to Christensen, most aspects of the transaction will be transparent to existing clients insofar as the firm's name will remain unchanged, all contracts will remain in force and most importantly, the same highly skilled professionals will continue to provide client support and product delivery.

He said that C&A would expand upon its consistently high-quality service with evolving programs that provide measurable results using in-person and electronic media. The transaction also advances C&A's targeting, outreach and delivery, financial communications, technology, message development, market research and meeting logistics capabilities.

Vanguestaine joins C&A after 32 years at JP Morgan. In his last assignment, Vanguestaine was a managing director responsible for JP Morgan's global American Depositary Receipt (ADR) business and was a member of Morgan's Global Equity Management Team. His knowledge of equity capital markets will better position C&A to deliver products globally.

Vanguestaine has worked and lived on three continents and has provided advisory services to companies across 35 countries. Immediately before joining C&A, he founded Equity Market Services Inc., a New York-based consulting firm which provides technical and legal advice to foreign companies on equity structures in the United States

Howard Christensen also announced the appointment of two new members to the senior executive team. Susan Herman joins C&A as an executive vice president. Prior to joining C&A, she was an EVP at Stylus Strategic Communications, a Canadian corporate and investor relations firm.

Herman is a member of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) and serves as program co-chair on the CIRI Quebec Board. She will apply more than 20 years of experience in investor, public and media relations to provide Canadian companies with a U.S. marketing focus.

She will also spearhead a leading-edge transformation of the investor relations profession by using Internet-based tools to provide online proxy voting, e-Reports (electronic annual reports), IR Web sites, e-Vent creation and intelligent electronic archiving.

Jeff Christensen, who helped develop many of C&A's products and services, rejoins the firm to anchor east coast activities as an EVP after holding senior positions at other financial communications firms.

Over the last 14 years, he has assisted numerous companies in the areas of M&A, corporate crisis management, institutional targeting, direct contact with professional investors and development of long-term street support. Christensen is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Financial Executives Institute.

He is also a board member of the Public Relations Society of America (Connecticut Chapter), a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and has served on the NIRI (Connecticut Chapter) Board.

"The new additions to the executive team, coupled with C&A's extensive investor relations and financial public relations expertise, proprietary technology and knowledge of global equity capital markets, uniquely positions us to bring more value to our existing client base while expanding to non-U.S. markets," said Howard Christensen.

"We have made a huge commitment and contribution to the IR profession over the years, and will continue to work with senior executives to successfully position companies with U.S. institutional and retail investors and enhance our Best Practice to Motivate Markets(TM) methodology."

About Christensen & Associates

Committed to delivering quantifiable results and value to its clients, Christensen & Associates is a privately held investor relations and financial consulting firm specializing in the full integration of communications programs to motivate markets and build share value for its clients.

The company's proprietary Best Practice Financial Communications(TM) programs provide specific models for the establishment of effective analyst, broker, investor and media relationships designed to enhance clients' market and brand value through proactive, consistent messaging.

Since 1982, the firm has worked with business leaders, IR professionals and marketing specialists spanning all industries to create innovative solutions to strategic marketing and investor relations challenges for a diverse domestic and international client base of Fortune 500 as well as emerging growth companies, with particular emphasis in the utilities, energy, financial services, communications and technology industries.

Clients include American Water Works Co. Inc., Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., CACI International Inc., FirstEnergy Corp., Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., Jacobs Engineering Group Corp., LaserSight Inc., Royal Dutch Shell, Telus, UnionBanCal Corp., and Vectren Corp.

Christensen & Associates is headquartered in Scottsdale. For additional information regarding the company or its clients, contact JoElyn Hennington at 480/614-3003.