SNL FINANCIAL ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF Y-MERGE

Addition of Y-Merge Online Corporate Finance Analysis Enhances SNL's Leading Financial Industry Information and Research

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — SNL Financial LC ("SNL") announced today the acquisition of Y-Merge.com LLC ("Y-Merge"). Under the terms of the deal, Y-Merge will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNL.

SNL, based in Charlottesville, is the leading provider of data and news on the banking, insurance, financial services, real estate and energy sectors. Y-Merge, based in New York, sells an Internet-based system that allows financial institutions and investment banks to evaluate and analyze a full range of corporate finance and transaction alternatives.

"We are very excited about the addition of the Y-Merge application suite to our product line and the Y-Merge principals and employees to our talented staff," said Mike Chinn, President of SNL. "Y-Merge will significantly increase our ability to serve our Wall Street and public company clients by increasing the analytical horsepower of SNL's electronic products and services. With the addition of Y-Merge, we will continue to supply the financial sector with best-of-breed data, news, research, and now corporate finance analysis for years to come."

"Joining the SNL team solidifies our goal of providing unmatched corporate finance analytics for the banking industry," said William Pappas, President of Y-Merge. "SNL's superior data and information will not only allow for expansion of our current financial institution analytics, but also foster development of a similar analytics platform for all the industries tracked by SNL. The combined SNL/Y-Merge platform will increase our ability to serve public companies, investment bankers and fund managers, forming a truly unbeatable combination and a win-win for our clients and for the principals of Y-Merge and SNL."

As part of the transaction, Will Pappas will join SNL's six-member board of managers, which also includes: Edwin T. Burton, Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia; Michael Chinn, President of SNL Financial LC; Mark Feldman, President and CEO of the Cold Spring Group; Reid Nagle, Chairman of SNL Financial LC; and Robert Wong, Managing Partner of McCabe Heidrich & Wong.

LeClair Ryan provided legal counsel to SNL Financial and Sullivan & Cromwell represented Y-Merge. Financial terms were not disclosed.

About SNL Financial

SNL collects, standardizes and disseminates all relevant corporate, financial, market, and M&A data — plus news and analysis — for the Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate, Energy and Media & Communications industries. For more information, visit www.SNL.com.