PRESS RELEASE

BANCO ESPIRITO SANTO DE INVESTIMENTO PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF CONTROLLING STAKE IN EXECUTION NOBLE TO CREATE A NEW INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT BANKING LEADER

LONDON, February 8th, 2010

The Boards of Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento S.A (‘BESI’), the Lisbon basedinvestment bank of the Banco Espirito Santo (BES) Group, and Execution Holdings Limited (‘Execution Noble’), now known as Execution Noble, the international investment banking group, are pleased to announce that they have agreed terms of a recommended offer for BESI to acquire a 50.1% stake. The senior management and staff of Execution Noble will remain significant shareholders in the business.

The combined group provides the foundation for a new international leader in integrated investment banking services, with a significant distribution platform and critical mass in key emerging markets including Brazil and India.

With BESI, Execution Noble’s capital base will be strengthened and the equities and fixed-income teams will be widened to provide an emerging-markets securities franchise and specialised Iberian coverage. BESI will also provide access to an underwriting capability as part of Execution Noble’s equity and fixed income markets offering.

The combined group will offer a full range of product strengths in: corporate finance/ M&A; capital markets; corporate broking; research; corporate access; equities, derivatives and fixed income sales and trading. The new group will also include Execution Noble’s unique reinsurance distribution platform.

BESI together with Execution Noble will have a combined investment banking headcount of close to 1,000 with offices in Lisbon, London, Madrid, Edinburgh, Dublin, Frankfurt, New York, Boston, Greenwich CT, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Warsaw.

Execution Noble is a leading investment banking and securities firm focusing on large and mid cap pan-European secondary equities and research, with an established distribution platform across London, New York, and Hong Kong. In the latter half of 2009, the group expanded into fixed income and its acquisition of the Noble Group added a primary origination capability which enhanced its ability to compete for significant M&A and equity capital markets’ mandates. The acquisition of Noble also strengthens the mid cap research product, with a highly rated Indian research product being added.

BESI is the fully-owned investment bank of BES Group. Over the last ten years, BESI has invested in international expansion, leveraging a long-standing leadership position in all key investment banking product areas in its domestic Iberian market. BESI has extended its reach internationally in Brazil, Poland, UK, Ireland and the US, and plans to move into Africa in the near future. BESI has a team of almost 700 professionals worldwide (of which around 60% are outside of Portugal) covering a wide-range of products, clients and selective markets.

BESI has, over the last seven years, been the undisputed market leader in investment banking in Portugal and is the 3rd largest broker by trading volume in Spain. It is also the number one M&A adviser in Iberia (by number of transactions) and in 2009 it ranked first in the world in Financial Advisory in renewables. BESI’s balance sheet was close to €6bn (total assets as at 31 December 2009) and the BES Group had total assets of €82.3bn, as at 31 December 2009. In 2009, BESI generated profit before tax of around €70m, despite market conditions, and the BES group posted net profits after tax of €522.1m (up 30% on the previous year).

For BESI, Execution Noble provides a top quality international distribution platform and investment banking team, allowing it to operate through the key financial markets of London, New York and Hong Kong. It also enables it to establish an enlarged international securities business, leverage its primary and secondary fixed income and equities presence in Iberia and its primary origination capabilities in Europe and Emerging Markets, in particular Brazil and, increasingly, Africa.

The new Board of Directors will include, among others, Jose Maria Espirito Santo Ricciardi as its Chairman with Nick Finegold (current Chairman of Execution Noble) and Luis Luna Vaz (BESI Global Head of Capital Markets and Board Member) as Vice- Chairmen. Simon Brookhouse will continue as CEO. Paulo Araújo from BESI and Angus Macpherson and Charles Ashton, from Execution Noble, will be executive board members.

Completion of the offer is subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory consents and the satisfaction or waiver of a number of other conditions customary in an offer of this nature. The offer is being made through Espirito Santo Investment Holding Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BESI.

Jose Maria Espirito Santo Ricciardi, CEO of BESI said: "This acquisition establishes our ambition of becoming a key international Investment Banking player. The transaction will open new opportunities for Execution Noble while preserving its individuality. Execution Noble is complementary to our existing international reach and product suite, developing our distribution platform considerably in terms of Large and Mid Cap equity trading, which in turn will strengthen our Iberian and Emerging Market investment banking and origination capabilities."

Nick Finegold, Chairman of Execution Noble said: "The Execution Noble team will continue to have a significant stake in the business and the enlarged firm will, with our new partner’s backing, capitalise on current regulatory economic and political uncertainties to build a new type of investment bank. We will have a leading position in some of the world’s most exciting emerging markets, notably Brazil and India, in addition to a strong pan-European footprint. The enlarged firm will continue to leverage its technical excellence with a strong social and moral conscience. We will also benefit from access to BESI’s investment banking expertise and product reach."

Kinmont, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, acted as financial adviser to Execution Noble.

Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento S.A.
José Maria Espirito Santo Ricciardi, Chief Executive: +351 21 330 9530
Luis Luna Vaz, Executive Board Member: +351 21 319 6904
Paulo Araújo, Senior Managing Director : +44 20 7246 0186
Tara Cemlyn-Jones, Executive Director: +351 21 319 6904

Execution Noble
Nick Finegold, Executive Chairman: +44 20 7456 9191
Simon Brookhouse, Chief Executive: +44 20 7456 9171
Angus Macpherson, Deputy CEO: +44 131 270 3588

College Hill
Mike Davies: +44 20 7457 2025
Adam Aljewicz
Richard Pearson

Cubitt Consulting
Michael Henman: +44 20 7367 5106
Caroline Merrell: +44 20 7367 5103