William Blair & Company Initiates Coverage of Bank of New York Mellon Corporation With Outperform Rating

Business Wire, Jan 11, 2008

CHICAGO -- William Blair & Company initiated research coverage of Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) ($47.79) with an Outperform rating and a Core Growth company profile. The Bank of New York Mellon, formed by the merger of the former Bank of New York and Mellon Financial (closed July 2007), is a leading global financial services company with $21 trillion of assets under custody and administration, more than $1.1 trillion of assets under management, and $11 trillion in outstanding debt serviced.

Analyst David Long estimated the company would earn $2.64 per share in 2007, $2.96 per share in 2008, and $3.44 per share in 2009.

"The former Bank of New York and Mellon Financial merger created the most diversified global custodian in terms of client base and service offerings," Long said. "We believe the combination creates a stronger competitor and increases the company's growth rate as it realizes the benefits of scale, cost savings, and revenue synergies. Before the merger, the former Bank of New York was improving its offerings to pension funds, endowments, and foundations, while Mellon was building its financial institutions product suite. But the merger combines each company's strengths (BNY in financial institutions and Mellon in pension funds, endowments, and foundations) and eliminates the need for capital spending by the separate entities to build each competency."

Long continued, "Shares of Bank of New York Mellon provide investors with an opportunity to own a global leader in securities servicing, asset management, and issuer services with significant growth opportunities relative to its large-cap financial peers, in our opinion. The company is well positioned to benefit from the growth of global financial assets, supported by increasing savings levels (aging of population), the modernization of public-pension schemes, and growth in cross-border investing."

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. has received compensation for investment banking services from the company within the past 12 months, or expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services in the next 3 months.

For important disclosures and information regarding the firm's rating system, valuation methods and potential conflicts of interest, please visit: http://www.williamblair.com/Pages/news_story_dept.asp?uid=1313&depID=4

Additional information is available upon request.