Kenneth B. Marlin, Former EVP at Bridge Information Systems, Joins Veronis, Suhler & Associates as Managing Director for Business Information Services.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1999--

Media industry merchant bank Veronis, Suhler & Associates announced today that it has hired Kenneth B. Marlin to serve as Managing Director in the bank's Business Information Services segment.

Mr. Marlin comes to Veronis, Suhler from Bridge Information Systems, where he was Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Product Management. He joined Bridge in July 1997 as a result of Bridge's acquisition of Telesphere Corporation, a provider of digital market data feeds for securities traders and related software technology. Mr. Marlin was President and CEO of Telesphere, which he co-founded in 1995, acquiring and consolidating several related businesses.

Mr. Marlin's focus will be transactions and investments related to business and professional information, a rapidly growing and changing segment of the communications industry. The segment encompasses the collection and delivery of data to support marketing, public and private investment activity, credit, payroll and human resource information, product development and pricing, legal and regulatory issues and general business. He will divide his time between investment banking activities and private equity investments with VS&A Communications Partners III, Veronis, Suhler's $1 billion media buyout fund.

From 1992 through 1995, Mr. Marlin was President and CEO of Telekurs (North America), a Swiss-owned firm specializing in software, technology and market data for the securities industry. Upon founding Telesphere in 1995, Mr. Marlin and his partners acquired Telekurs (NA). Prior to 1992, Mr. Marlin was an executive for more than 10 years with the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, where he served as Senior Vice President of the Financial Information Services Group. During his career at D&B, he held positions in group and division management, finance, strategic planning, and mergers and acquisitions.

"As both entrepreneur and executive, Kenneth has an impressive track record building companies in large part through strategic acquisitions -- and selling companies after building their value," said James P. Rutherfurd, Veronis,

Suhler's Executive Vice President of Investment Banking. "He has just the combination of hands-on management and transactional experience that Veronis, Suhler prizes -- as well as an in-depth of grasp of the way technology is changing business information collection and delivery."

Mr. Marlin's appointment is in keeping with Veronis, Suhler's tradition of hiring professionals with both operational and transactional experience in the communications industry. The firm's managing directors have included former senior executives from such companies as CBS Broadcasting and CBS Publishing, Time Inc., Ziff Davis, and McGraw Hill, as well as media-focused investment bankers from J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Warburg Dillon Read and Salomon Smith Barney. Recently, the firm has recruited several executives from publishing and business information companies, including Simon & Schuster and R. R. Donnelley as well as Dun & Bradstreet.

Mr. Marlin, for his part, stresses a longstanding professional relationship with Veronis, Suhler and Associates as a key factor in his move to merchant banking: "I've known and respected VS&A since 1981, when I first met John Suhler," Mr. Marlin recalled. "I've long been impressed with the firm's singleminded focus on the communications industry, and with its directors' ability to place merger and acquisition activity in the broader context of a company's strategic planning."

Mr. Marlin also noted that his move comes at a time of tremendous opportunity in the business information field. "In recent years, new technologies have emerged and grown rapidly. Promising startups abound, and mature companies are rethinking their business mix. In this environment, Veronis, Suhler's private equity arm adds an exciting dimension to the firm's ability to help shape this rapidly growing industry."

Mr. Marlin is a former Captain and Infantry Company Commander in the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned a BA from the University of California (Irvine) an MBA from UCLA, and an Advanced Professional Degree in corporate strategy from New York University. He is a Director of the New York City Chapter of the American Red Cross and a Trustee of the Hurricane Island Outbound School.

Note: Veronis, Suhler & Associates (www.veronissuhler.com) is the preeminent independent merchant bank dedicated to the media, communications, and information industries. Since its formation in 1981, the firm has completed more than 475 transactions exceeding $27 billion. VS&A specializes in mergers and acquisitions, the sale of media properties and companies, joint ventures, and management buy-outs. VS&A Communications Partners III, L.P., an affiliate of Veronis, Suhler & Associates, is a $1 billion private equity fund which recently made its first acquisition in the media industry.