Van der Moolen Closes Acquisition of NYSE Specialist Firm Lyden, Dolan, Nick.

Business Editors

NEW YORK & AMSTERDAM, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2002

Van der Moolen (NYSE: VDM), one of the top five New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange specialists and a market maker on the major U.S. and European equity, options and bond markets, completed the acquisition of the NYSE specialist firm Lyden, Dolan, Nick & Co., LLC on March 1, 2002.

Lyden will be integrated into Van der Moolen Specialists USA, in which Van der Moolen retains a 75% interest. The transaction increases our staff with 29 employees, of which 6 are partners. The former partners of Lyden who remain active in the firm, will join in the remaining 25% interest in Van der Moolen Specialists USA that is owned by the senior traders of the firm.

Lyden serves as specialist for 79 common stocks, including Duke Energy, Apache Corp., Cooper Cameron, HCA, Canadian Pacific, NRG Energy, A.G. Edwards, Arch Coal, Dana Corp. and LaBranche. Five of its assignments are components of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

With the inclusion of Lyden's specialist assignments, Van der Moolen Specialists USA's specialist book will comprise 387 common stock listings, representing 15% of the NYSE listed common stocks and accounting for 10.5% of NYSE dollar volume. The consideration was paid in cash and the acquisition is expected to contribute immediately to Van der Moolen's earnings.

F.M.J. (Fred) Bottcher, Van der Moolen's Chief Executive Officer, comments, "The acquisition of Lyden further strengthens our franchise on the NYSE. It raises us to fourth position among NYSE specialists in terms of common stock assignments, diversifies our book, adds to our trading talent and gives us several particularly attractive trading assignments. We are pleased to welcome our new partners in Van der Moolen Specialists USA".

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements, which contain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect management's beliefs and expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. As a result, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, and are referred to the documents filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically our most recent filing on Form 20-F, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ. The Company disclaims any obligation to update its view of such risks and uncertainties or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to the forward-looking statements made herein, except where it would be required to do so under applicable law.

Announcement

On Thursday, March 7, 2002, at 4:00 PM (CET) / 3:00 PM (UK) / 10:00 AM (Eastern), Van der Moolen will hold a conference call for analysts and investors after publication of the company's year end results. The call will also be webcast live on www.vandermoolen.com.

You may register online at: http://invite.taylor-rafferty.com/_vandermoolen/europe/ or http://invite.taylor-rafferty.com/_vandermoolen/US/