Bear Stearns Grows Special Situations Group in Europe; Joachim Koolmann among New Hires to Focus on Restructurings and Recapitalisations

The special situations group is part of Fixed Income and consistsof experts in corporate restructuring and recapitalisation fordistressed debt. The group has seen considerable growth and investordemand across Europe and its recent significant debt purchases andrestructurings include companies such as Deutsche Nickel AG andConcordia Bus AB.

Mr. Koolmann joins as a senior managing director with thespecialist brief of restructuring debt. He brings 20 years ofexperience in structured private placements, high yield, leveragedfinance and corporate restructuring.

Patrick McNellis and Stephen Hamilton, both join as managingdirectors, and will utilise their skills in sourcing and sales instressed and distressed debt to cover financial institutions andinvestors in a sales capacity.

Commenting on the hires, Yves Leysen senior managing director andhead of debt corporate finance in Europe, said, "This growing marketdemands considerable expertise and experience and Joachim, Patrick andStephen certainly meet this criteria in their specific fields. Theseimportant hires will bolster our strong franchise and meet the growingdemand of investors who are joining us in investing in this market."

Mr. Koolmann joins Bear Stearns from Deutsche Bank, where he was asenior member of its distressed products group focusing onrestructuring. Previously, he worked at Dresdner KleinwortWasserstein, Bankers Trust and JP Morgan in positions within leveragedfinance, high yield capital markets and structured private placementsrespectively.

Mr. McNellis has over twenty years of experience in corporatelending and loan sales in the United States and Europe. Most recently,he was a consultant to EuroHypo Bank in Frankfurt placing high yieldand mezzanine real estate loans in the European market. Prior to this,he was in high yield sales at Morgan Stanley for 7 years and was 3years at Alex Brown & Sons.

Mr. Hamilton is an expert on credit risk management and joins BearStearns from ABN Amro, where he was a vice president in the financialrestructuring & recovery group for the last 5 years, dealing withlarge multi-bank restructurings. Previously, he worked for 20 years atNational Westminster Bank/Royal Bank of Scotland in credit riskmanagement and corporate restructurings.

Bear, Stearns International Limited is a wholly owned subsidiaryof The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE: BSC) BSIL currently employsapproximately 1,000 staff in London who serve corporations,institutions, partnerships and governmental entities in the UnitedKingdom, Europe and the Middle East. BSIL's capabilities includeinvestment banking, institutional equities and fixed income sales,trading and research, derivatives, financial futures, foreignexchange, private client services and global clearing. Bear, StearnsInternational Limited is authorised and regulated by the FinancialServices Authority.

Founded in 1923, The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE:BSC), withapproximately $58.4 billion in total capital, serves governments,corporations, institutions and individuals worldwide. Its majorsubsidiary, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., includes corporate finance andmergers and acquisitions, institutional equities and fixed incomesales and trading, securities research, private client services,derivatives, foreign exchange and futures sales and trading, assetmanagement and custody services. Through Bear, Stearns SecuritiesCorp., it offers financing, securities lending, clearing andtechnology solutions to hedge funds, broker-dealers and investmentadvisors. Headquartered in New York City, the company hasapproximately 12,500 employees worldwide. For additional informationabout Bear Stearns, please visit the firm's website atwww.bearstearns.com.