Old Mutual's U.S. Asset Management Group Announces Sales of Two Investment Affiliates.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2003

The U.S. asset management group of Old Mutual plc (LSE:OML) today announced it has reached separate agreements with two of the group's investment affiliates, Madison, Wisconsin-based Northern Capital Management and San Diego-based Rice, Hall, James & Associates, for the firms to be acquired by their senior management teams.

The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2003. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"We believe these sales put our group near the optimal level of balance between the need to focus our efforts on core operations while retaining appropriate diversification in the range of investment strategies of our firms," said Scott Powers, chief executive of Old Mutual's U.S. asset management operations. "The measure of our success as we move forward with this core group will be our ability to achieve outstanding results for our clients in all facets of our business."

Last week, the group announced its firms had achieved strong positive inflows of client assets for the second consecutive year, finishing 2002 with $127.0 billion in assets under management. Of that total, $1.2 billion was managed on December 31, 2002, by Northern Capital, a mid- and large-cap growth equity specialist, and $1.7 billion by Rice, Hall, James, which employs a growth-at-a-reasonable-price strategy and invests primarily in micro-, small-, and mid-cap equities. More information on Northern Capital is available at www.norcap.com and on Rice, Hall, James at www.ricehalljames.com.

Old Mutual's U.S. asset management group provides a broad range of active investment strategies through its investment affiliates, each of which focuses exclusively on its unique, independent investment philosophy and process. The group's parent is Old Mutual plc, an international financial services company based in London, with operations in asset management, life assurance, banking and general insurance. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of approximately $5.1 billion as of January 31, 2003. More information on the U.S. asset management group and its firms is available at www.oldmutualus.com and on Old Mutual at www.oldmutual.com.