Placemark Investments

Placemark's Asset Growth Accelerates as Overlay Manager Gains New Clients

DALLAS and WELLESLEY, MA, May 17, 2006 – Placemark Investments, the investment industry's leading overlay manager, is pleased to announce that assets under management rose over 250% in the past year, to over $2 billion at the end of April 2006.

The asset surge is due to the launch of new Unified Managed Account (UMA) programs by clients using Placemark as overlay manager, and increased advisor adoption and productivity within established UMA programs. Placemark anticipates similar growth in new accounts and assets under management in the months ahead, fueled by strong interest in UMAs within the industry, and the firm's current business development pipeline.

Placemark's overlay management service offering allows sponsors to develop custom UMA programs designed to meet the needs of high-net-worth advisors and their clients. UMA and Multi-Discipline separately managed account (SMA) programs are projected to increase by 40-50% annually to $500 billion in assets by 2010, according to research published by the Washington, DC-based Money Management Institute, an industry association. Placemark and the sponsor clients of its overlay services are well positioned to capture a significant portion of that projected growth.

"We are excited to be leading development of the unified managed account industry," said Lee Chertavian, Placemark's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our clients see their UMA programs as critical to achieving their overall fee-based asset growth and advisor recruiting goals."

Based in Dallas, Texas, and Wellesley, Massachusetts, Placemark provides overlay portfolio management services for UMA programs – fee-based investment solutions that combine multiple investments such as separately managed accounts, mutual funds and ETFs into customized portfolios. Placemark is the active overlay manager in numerous UMA and Multi-Discipline SMA programs for brokerage firms, registered investment advisors, and banks, including RBC Dain Rauscher, Prudential Financial, BMO Nesbitt Burns, and Homrich & Berg.

Over 30,000 advisors and their clients in the US and Canada have access to UMA programs managed by Placemark. The firm anticipates launching UMA programs with two to three additional sponsors in 2006, and another five to six sponsors in 2007. Placemark has been expanding its staff and infrastructure significantly to support both its current business operations and growth projected over the next two years.

Placemark offers a robust UMA solution to financial institutions, working with their preferred separate account managers, mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds and other investment products. Placemark currently works with over 200 separate account investment styles provided by over 120 industry-leading investment managers.

The firm also offers highly customized investment solutions, implementing transition plans for clients in concentrated positions or portfolios with deep embedded gains, and tailoring client portfolios for individual tax and risk requirements. Over 30% of Placemark's assets are managed using the firm's tax customization and transition services. The ability to integrate a sponsor's preferred roster of products and SMA managers, combined with flexibility in features and back-office systems support, has made Placemark the overlay manager of choice for sponsors developing custom UMA program.