Press Release

Merrill Lynch Announces Non-Controlling Investment in Sterling Stamos Capital Management, L.P.

NEW YORK, May 24 – Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) today announced that it has agreed to make a non-controlling investment in Sterling Stamos Capital Management L.P. ("Sterling Stamos"), a private investment firm that manages more than $4 billion in assets on behalf of high net worth individuals and institutional investors globally. Sterling Stamos will remain an independent firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Sterling Stamos is a leading investment firm with an outstanding management team," said Rohit D’Souza, head of Global Alternative Investments and head of Global Equities at Merrill Lynch. "We will work with Sterling Stamos to grow their successful business by using Merrill Lynch’s global resources."

"Partnering with a world-class institution like Merrill Lynch allows us to better serve our investors," said Peter S. Stamos, Chairman and CEO of Sterling Stamos. "We believe this partnership uniquely positions us in the industry by bringing together Merrill Lynch’s global infrastructure and resources with our experience in the alternative investment space."

Founded in 2002, Sterling Stamos invests in alternative and traditional assets–absolute return, fixed income, public equity, real assets and private equity. The firm has offices in New York, New York, Menlo Park, California and Tokyo, Japan.

About Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies with offices in 37 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 more than $1 trillion in assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.

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