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Bear Stearns Hires Schechter & Co. Limited to join Fixed Income Division

London — 4 September, 2007 — Bear, Stearns International Limited today announced that it has appointed Stephen L Schechter and Lawrence B Schechter to roles within the Firm's Fixed Income division. Since 2002 they have been working for their own company, Schechter & Co. Limited, a London based investment banking specialist with a focus on private placements, lease finance and financial advisory.

Stephen L Schechter, who founded Schechter & Co. Limited, has been appointed by Bear Stearns as a Senior Advisor on European and cross-border private placements. Mr. Schechter has over 40 years' experience in the private placement of debt and equity securities. He has placed over $10 billion of cross border debt and lease financing for hundreds of companies in a wide range of sectors and is widely credited with pioneering the cross border private placement, having completed the first transaction in 1977. Before setting up his own company Mr. Schechter was Co-Head of Debt Finance and Advisory at Lazard and prior to that was Managing Director and Head of International Debt Capital Markets at Schroders.

Lawrence B Schechter will join Bear Stearns as a Managing Director in Debt Capital Markets. At Schechter & Co. Limited he was responsible for all aspects of debt finance, equity linked finance, lease finance and financial and strategic advice with specific expertise in cross-border debt and lease financings, and UK domestic debt placements and leasing.

Jennifer Redman is also joining from Schechter & Co. Limited as an Associate within Bear Stearns' Debt Capital Markets team.

Yves Leysen, Head of Fixed Income for Bear, Stearns International Limited, commented, "Stephen and Larry bring a wealth of experience in private placements and other debt financing. We are building our business in Europe, the Middle East and the Emerging Markets, offering a range of debt financing options to our real estate, infrastructure, corporate and financial clients and we view the team as an important additional resource."

Schechter & Co. Limited has just completed a $475 million transaction for Venture Production plc, the largest cross border private placement out of Europe in 2007. Other transactions completed since Schechter & Co. Limited began include a €129.7 million financing for German football club, Schalke 04; a £117 million dual currency, twelve year note issue for Serco Group plc; private placements for Hunting PLC, Manchester City and Norwich City football clubs; and lease financings for Eli Lilly Limited, Wincanton plc and Hagemeyer NV in sterling, euros and dollars respectively.

Bear Stearns' Debt Capital Markets team specialises in structured credit financing and last year was responsible for the landmark $925 million real estate bond financing for the Blue City development in the Sultanate of Oman.

About Bear, Stearns International Limited
Bear, Stearns International Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Founded in 1923, The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE: BSC) is a leading financial services firm serving governments, corporations, institutions and individuals worldwide. The Company's core business lines include institutional equities, fixed income, investment banking, global clearing services, asset management, and private client services. Headquartered in New York City, the company has approximately 15,000 employees worldwide. For additional information about Bear Stearns, please visit the firm's web site at www.bearstearns.com.

For additional information about Schechter & Co. Limited please visit www.schechterco.com

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