Business Services Industry

Wedbush Morgan Securities Launches Online IPO Site

Business Wire, June 8, 1999

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999--

Southern California's Largest Privately Owned Investment

Banking Firm is the First Full-Service Securities Firm

to Offer IPOs on the Net

Wedbush Morgan Securities, a longstanding member of the Southern California investment banking community, is the first full-service securities firm to offer IPOs on the Internet.

The launch of its E InvestmentBank Web site Tuesday (www.einvestmentbank.com) provides Wedbush customers direct access to initial public offerings (IPOs), secondary offerings and private placements. It also gives issuers and entrepreneurs the opportunity to raise capital in emerging online financial markets.

"We are pleased to be one of the first established investment banking firms to deliver this capability for our clients," said Eric Wedbush, director of E InvestmentBank. "It is a powerful tool that enhances the ability of growing companies to raise capital in this fast-paced business environment."

The first public offerings on the fully functional site include Intellisys Group Inc., a designer of information networking systems based in Mountain View, Calif.; and OBIE Media Corp. (NASDAQ:OBIE), a publicly traded advertising company based in Eugene, Ore., that markets advertising space on transit vehicles and outdoor advertising displays. Wedbush expects to announce additional offerings to be available on the site shortly.

The E InvestmentBank site allows investors to open accounts, place indications of interest to receive allocations of shares in offerings and change their selections online using the E OrderBook feature. It provides investors free access to Wedbush's proprietary research reports that cover technology, including the Internet, consumer products and services, and medical technology sectors.

There is also market and industry commentary from Wedbush analysts, news and updates on capital markets and other investment tools.

Separately, Wedbush and Multex.com (NASDAQ:MLTX) jointly announced that they have entered into a strategic marketing agreement in connection with the launch of the new site. Wedbush continues to pursue ongoing strategic relationships with other potential partners to expand the services and reach of E InvestmentBank.

As part of this effort, Wedbush will be sponsoring areas of the Multex Investor Network site located at www.multexinvestor.com, as well as e-mail updates from the Multex Investor Network and Multex.com's Internet analyst weekly newsletter located at http://www.multex.com/tia/1999.html.> Wedbush is headquartered in Los Angeles and is a member of the New York Stock Exchange. It provides a full array of corporate finance, research, trading, institutional sales, correspondent clearing and retail brokerage services.

The firm has sales offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Menlo Park, and Newport Beach, Calif.; Seattle; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Portland and Eugene, Ore.; Denver; Honolulu; Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska; and institutional offices in New York and Boston. It also provides securities transaction execution and clearing services to more than 1,000 investment executives at 125 correspondent brokerage firms nationwide.