Interfax Group Becomes One of the Disclosure Leaders in Emerging Markets

Interfax Information Services Group, partnering with Business Wire, the industry-standard service for distribution of news releases, regulatory filings, and company information, has created a unique and most comprehensive news and disclosure network to reach hundreds of millions of users in the Emerging Markets.

b>Cathy Baron Tamraz, President and CEO of Business Wire, said ‘After the Interfax Group had launched the distribution of press releases in China, the number of people who could view international press releases via the Interfax distribution network reached hundreds of millions. The Interfax Group, in cooperation with Business Wire and on its own, electronically disseminates every month hundreds of full-text news releases and reports to the media, the Internet portals, information web sites, online services and databases, and the global investment community in English, Russian, Chinese and other languages.‘

For many years the Interfax Group in partnership with Business Wire has been distributing press releases of international companies on the territory of Russia and former Soviet Union. In 2007 the number of press releases distributed via the Interfax channels in cooperation with Business Wire in this region significantly grew and exceeded 1,000.

Within the last few months Interfax has dramatically increased this number by adding news releases distributed on the territory of China and some countries of Central Europe. The total number of international press releases distributed globally by the Interfax Group in partnership with Business Wire will reach 4000 per year.

"With global markets increasingly recognizing the importance of corporate transparency and real-time information access, Interfax continues to help public companies meet disclosure requirements and successfully builds up its leadership in this important area with special emphasis on the emerging markets," Tamraz said.

At the same time currently Interfax holds about 85% of the disclosure services market in Russia, where 12,000 issuers published 95,000 corporate announcements in 2007. Some 250 reports about board and shareholder meetings, securities‘ issues, dividend payments and other corporate events are posted on the Interfax disclosure system‘s website every day.

"Interfax Information Services , the leading financial and business news provider operating on the vast territory of Central Europe, the former Soviet Union and China, places one of its top priorities on such an important area as disclosure of information, - said Mikhail Komissar, Chairman and CEO of the Interfax Group. We have always been very seriously involved in this activity, and back in 2001 Interfax was authorized by the Federal Securities Commission to publish reports and information presented by issuer-companies."

The Interfax Group‘s global system for distribution of corporate news and press releases is based on its proprietary unique client networks in different regions of the world, comprising tens of thousands of companies, financial and banking institutions, media outlets, and government authorities. Aimed at extending the online coverage, Interfax has added to its huge client list guaranteed postings on leading Internet portals, websites and other re-distributors, with which Interfax has entered into agreements. Among them are internet resources in various countries, including some major Chinese websites. The press releases distributed by Interfax on these Chinese portals can be cumulatively viewed by hundreds of millions of people annually.

As companies need a better way to reach their investors, the Interfax Group in cooperation with Business Wire are determined to continually develop disclosure services and fulfill disclosure needs in multiple markets worldwide, using their experience of many years and huge distribution potential, to bring more choice to the marketplace.

*** Interfax Information Services Group provides information products and means of communication needed for political and business solutions. The Group, set up in 1989, is a network of national, regional and specialized news agencies operating in Russia, elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Independent States, in China, and in Central Europe. Interfax comprises companies and divisions reporting news, providing analytical services, market data and basic information, and developing software solutions.

*** Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is utilized by thousands of member companies and organizations to transmit their full- text news releases, regulatory filings, photos and other multimedia content to journalists, news media, trade publications, institutional and individual investors, financial information services, regulatory authorities, Internet portals, information web sites, business-to- business decision-makers and consumers worldwide. With a news distribution network spanning 150 countries and 45 languages, Business Wire‘s multi-channel delivery network has access to dozens of international and national news agency networks throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

The Business Wire news network is powered by its patented NX high- speed data platform and supports XML, XHTML and XBRL code to deliver the most sophisticated news file to enhance news release interactivity, customization and search engine optimization. Business Wire has 31 bureaus in cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney with reciprocal offices throughout the world. Business Wire was founded in 1961.