Conseco Announces Asset Sale and Financing Plan.

Business Editors

CARMEL, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2000

Conseco, Inc. (NYSE:CNC) today announced that it has signed a commitment letter for sale of certain assets to Lehman Brothers Bank, FSB and affiliates. Pursuant to this transaction, Lehman Brothers will purchase approximately $1.5 billion of loans from Conseco Finance, with up to $500 million of the proceeds of such sale available to repay intercompany indebtedness owed to Conseco, Inc. This transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the near future.

David V. Harkins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Conseco, stated, "we are very pleased to announce this loan sale with Lehman Brothers. This plan provides significant liquidity at both the holding company and finance company levels. We believe that these arrangements will provide the company with the necessary liquidity to pursue its previously announced strategy of selling Conseco Finance and refocusing on its core insurance operations."

Headquartered in Carmel, Ind., Conseco is one of middle America's leading sources for insurance, investment and lending products. Through its subsidiaries and a nationwide network of distributors, Conseco helps 13 million customers step up to a better, more secure future.

Note on forward-looking statements: All statements, trend analyses and other information contained in this release and elsewhere (such as in filings by Conseco with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases, presentations by Conseco or its management or oral statements) relative to markets for Conseco's products and trends in Conseco's operations or financial results, as well as other statements including words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "should," "could," "goal," "target," "on track," "comfortable with" and other similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: (1) general economic conditions and other factors, including prevailing interest rate levels, stock and credit market performance and health care inflation, which may affect (among other things) Conseco's ability to sell its products, its ability to make loans and access capital resources and the costs associated therewith, the market value of Conseco's investments, the lapse rate and profitability of policies, and the level of defaults and prepayments of loans made by Conseco; (2) Conseco's ability to achieve anticipated synergies and levels of operational efficiencies; (3) customer response to new products, distribution channels and marketing initiatives; (4) mortality, morbidity, usage of health care services and other factors which may affect the profitability of Conseco's insurance products; (5) performance of our investments; (6) changes in the Federal income tax laws and regulations which may affect the relative tax advantages of some of Conseco's products; (7) increasing competition in the sale of insurance and annuities and in the finance business; (8) regulatory changes or actions, including those relating to regulation of financial services affecting (among other things) bank sales and underwriting of insurance products, regulation of the sale, underwriting and pricing of products, and health care regulation affecting health insurance products; (9) the outcome of the contemplated sale process relating to Conseco Finance Corp. and the terms and availability of capital to Conseco during the sale process; and (10) the risk factors or uncertainties listed from time to time in Conseco's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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