The Financial Times and Mergermarket announce today the shortlist for their inaugural European M&A Awards. The awards ceremony will recognise achievement across a range of areas and disciplines in the financial, legal, private equity, and PR communities.

The awards, to be held at the Sheraton Park Lane in London on December 13, will be unique in using both M&A transaction data and independent expert opinion to identify the winners of each award.

Citigroup, shortlisted for 12 categories including the prestigious Financial Advisor of the Year award, has received the most nominations amongst financial advisors. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have also been shortlisted in this category and have a total of 10 and eight nominations respectively. UBS and Rothschild have 11 nominations each and alongside the investment banks, KPMG is the sole professional services firm to be nominated for the top award.

Amongst the legal community, Magic Circle firms dominate nominations in 10 categories. Clifford Chance and Linklaters have received 15 nominations, while Allen & Overy and Freshfields have 12 and 11 nominations respectively. Joining these firms in the shortlist for Law Firm of the Year are DLA Piper and US giants Skadden Arps and Sullivan & Cromwell.

The Awards will also seek to recognise private equity excellence, with 3i, Apax, Barclays Private Equity, KKR, PAI and Permira battling it out for PE House of the Year award.

The evening will also reward achievement in financial PR counsel on European M&A deals, with Brunswick, Citigate, Estudio de Comunicacion, FD, Finsbury and Maitland all nominated for the top prize.

For the full list of nominations, please visit www.ftmergermarketawards.com

The shortlist has been drawn up from Mergermarket’s unrivalled M&A deal information and intelligence, and will be based on combination of the total value and number of announced transactions, as well as recognising particular deals, companies and people within a wider industry, regional or market context.

The shortlists will be judged by an independent panel of 13 experts in the M&A field, including editors from across the FT Group, as well as senior business figures from the corporate, advisory and private equity worlds. For the full list of judges, please visit www.ftmergermarketawards.com.

The evening will be hosted by Declan Curry, Business Presenter for ’Breakfast’ on BBC One and BBC News 24.

Notes to Editors:

About the Financial Times

The Financial Times Group, one of the world’s leading business information companies, aims to provide a broad range of business information and services to the growing audience of internationally minded business people. The FT Group includes:

1.The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business newspapers, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed at 24 print sites across the globe, has a daily circulation of 449,385 (ABC figures, October 2007) and a readership of more than 1.3 million people worldwide.

2.FT.com is one of the world’s leading business information websites, and the internet partner of the FT newspaper. FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 5.35 million unique monthly users generating 43 million page views (ABC electronic figures, March 2007). FT.com has 101,000 subscribers.

3.The FT Group’s pan-European network of national business newspapers and online services including France’s leading business newspaper and website, Les Echos and lesechos.fr. In February 2000, the FT launched a new German language newspaper, FT Deutschland, with a fully integrated online business news and data service.

4.Through FT Interactive Data, the FT Group is one of the world’s leading sources of securities pricing and specialist financial information to global institutional, professional and individual investors. Its products include eSignal, an online realtime streaming quotation service for brokers and active traders.

5.FT Business, which produces specialist information on the retail, personal and institutional finance industries. It publishes the UK’s premier personal finance magazine, Investors Chronicle, and The Banker, Money Management and Financial Adviser for professional advisers.

6.The Mergermarket Group, whose products and services provide the global advisory and corporate communities with intelligence and analysis. With regional head offices in London, New York and Hong Kong and 200 journalists in 46 locations worldwide, reliable and validated proprietary intelligence and historical data is provided via the mergermarket, dealReporter, Debtwire and wealthmonitor on-line platforms.

7.The Financial Times Group also has a stake in a number of joint ventures, including;

•FTSE International, a joint venture with the London Stock Exchange.

•Vedomosti, Russia’s leading business newspaper and a partnership venture with Dow Jones and Independent Media

•A 50% stake in BDFM, publishers of South Africa’s leading financial newspapers and websites.

•A 50% stake in The Economist Group, which publishes the world’s leading weekly business and current affairs journal.

•A 13.85% stake in Business Standard, one of India’s leading financial newspapers.

The FT Group is part of Pearson plc, the international education and information company.

For further information, please contact:

Jo Crosby, Financial Times, 020 7873 3811 or jo.crosby@ft.com

Tom Glover, Financial Times, 020 7775 6840 or tom.glover@ft.com