THE DEAL SURVEY PREDICTS 10% TO 20% PAY INCREASE FOR INVESTMENT BANKERS

First compensation increase in three years for Wall Street

September 15, 2003--New York, N.Y.-- Investment bankers will see a 10% to 20% pay increase by the end of this year compared with last, according to a survey of top investment bankers, headhunters and compensation experts conducted by The Deal, a financial newsweekly. This is the first positive pay news for bankers in three years. The survey appears within Special Report: Recruitment & Compensation published in today's issue.

According to The Deal, financial analysts (the lowest position on the banking totem pole) will have the potential to earn between $100,000 and $150,000. While managing directors' at the top will make up to $1 million this year. This is good news for bankers who have seen their income drop 75% since 2000, but they will have to work hard to get it. The Deal estimates that individuals will have to increase their productivity by least by 50% to achieve a 10% pay increase. This is because investment houses are increasing performance-based compensation and paying smaller base salaries.

"We lack hard numbers to prove that M&A is back, but anecdotally we hear that boards and CEOs are beginning to recover from the multiple shocks of the post-bubble era. While most banks have shored up business in other areas, they can't thrive without M&A. Coupled with this trend, we've seen the first evidence that Wall Street is hiring again-or at least no longer cutting," said Robert Teitelman, editor in chief.

The Deal finds that smaller investment banks with intrinsically lower overhead, are now paying their top-producers just as much as the big firms. The survey discovers that all firms are trying to hold onto their remaining employees and that layoffs will dramatically decline though 2004.

The Deal's survey numbers are based on anticipated fourth-quarter dealflow and are subject to change by an unexpected market dip or surge. For more information about The Deal or to view the newsweekly's special report, visit www.thedeal.com.

About The Deal LLC
The Deal LLC is a diversified media company that is the authoritative voice of the deal economy. We serve the global deal community - corporate and financial dealmakers, advisers and institutional investors - by providing business and financial news and information that offers fresh insights on the deal economy, a set of interrelated activities, focused on dealmaking of all kinds, whose purpose is to generate corporate growth in a continually changing global market. We offer a comprehensive line of print and electronic product and services for both readers and advertisers, including The Deal, The Daily Deal, TheDeal.com, Corporate Control Alert, Bankruptcy Insider, Deal Focus and VCDeal.com. Investors in The Deal, a privately held company, include majority owner U.S. Equity Partners, a private investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. LP, and Rustic Canyon Ventures, one of the largest venture capital funds in Southern California.