Merrill Lynch Hires Michael Nierenberg as Global Head of Mortgages and Securitized Products and James De Mare to Run Mortgage Trading

Business Wire, Sept 2, 2008

NEW YORK -- Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) today announced that Michael Nierenberg from JP Morgan will be joining the firm to head global mortgages and securitized products businesses, and that James De Mare from Citigroup will also be joining to run the company's mortgage trading operations.

Mr. Nierenberg will report directly to Thomas K. Montag, head of global sales and trading, and Mr. De Mare will report to Mr. Nierenberg.

"I am very pleased that both Mike Nierenberg and Jim De Mare have agreed to join Merrill Lynch," said Mr. Montag. "Both Mike and Jim are among the most highly skilled and knowledgeable people in the mortgage business."

Mr. Nierenberg was most recently JP Morgan's head of global securitized products, a position he held after moving to that firm following its purchase of Bear Stearns earlier this year. Mr. Nierenberg joined Bear Stearns in 1994, moving quickly through the ranks to hold positions such as head of interest rate and foreign exchange trading operations, co-head of structured products and co-head of mortgage-backed securities trading. Before Bear Stearns, Mr. Nierenberg spent seven years at Lehman Brothers, where he was instrumental in building up that firm's adjustable rate mortgage business.

Mr. De Mare was with Citigroup for 11 years, having most recently served as the global head of mortgage trading, which included the trading of all securitized products in Citigroup's fixed income currencies and commodities group. He joined Salomon Brothers in 1997 to run its adjustable rate trading business. Prior to joining Salomon in 1997, Mr. De Mare traded agency and non-agency adjustable rate mortgages at Bear Stearns and Prudential Securities.

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies with offices in 40 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management companies with $1.4 trillion in assets under management at June 30, 2008. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.