Eric H. Schless Joins Wachovia Securities' Industrial Growth Investment Banking Group

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wachovia Securities announced today that Eric Schless has joined Wachovia Securities' Industrial Growth Investment Banking Group as a managing director. He will be based in New York and report to Stewart Wallace, managing director and head of the group.

Schless joins Wachovia Securities from The Seabury Group, where he was a managing director and focused on providing investment banking services to freight and logistics providers in Europe and North America.

"Eric brings terrific industry relationships and transaction experience to our firm. He has a proven understanding of all aspects of the freight and logistics sectors," Wallace said. "Having Eric on the team demonstrates our commitment to clients in these key industry sectors."

During his career, Schless established coverage of the transportation and logistic sector for Bear Stearns & Co., where he was a managing director and head of the Transportation Group. Previously, Schless was a managing director at Schroder & Co., where he founded the firm's Transportation Group. Schless started his banking career at Wheat First Securities Inc.

Wachovia Securities is the trade name for the corporate, investment banking, capital markets and securities research businesses of Wachovia Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC (WCM) and Wachovia Securities International Limited. Wachovia Securities is also the trade name for the retail brokerage businesses of WCM's affiliates, Wachovia Securities, LLC, Wachovia Securities Financial Networks, LLC, Wexford Clearing, LLC, and First Clearing, LLC.

Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, is a U.S. broker-dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., and the Securities Investor Protection Corp. Wachovia Securities International Limited is a U.K. incorporated investment firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Wachovia Corporation is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, with retail operations from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas, and retail brokerage operations nationwide. Wachovia had assets of $511.8 billion, market capitalization of $78.2 billion and stockholders' equity of $47.9 billion at June 30, 2005. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 13 million household and business relationships primarily through 3,126 offices in 15 states and Washington, D.C. Its full-service retail brokerage firm, Wachovia Securities, LLC, also serves clients through 699 offices in 49 states and five Latin American countries. Our Corporate and Investment Bank serves clients primarily in 10 key industry sectors nationwide. Global services are offered through 33 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through http://wachovia.com/.