London, March 6th 2003 – Rolfe & Nolan announced that the recent offer by Maia Holdings in association with HgCapital has been declared unconditional in all respects. The MBO will now proceed, irrespective of the announcements made by third parties carrying out due diligence. Acceptances have now been received for over 75 per cent of the issued share capital and the removal of Rolfe & Nolan from the Official List of the London Stock Exchange is expected to take place on 3 April 2003.

Bob Freeman, chief executive officer of Rolfe & Nolan, said: "An MBO is very hard work for all concerned and I am delighted that the management team has been able to take independent control of such a strong business with an excellent track record. Our imminent status as a privately-owned company will give us the freedom to grow our business further, enhance profitability and capitalise on our enviable reputation. The high calibre of our staff will enable us to drive the business forward, working closely with our existing clients and developing stronger relationships with banks, brokers and exchanges.

"Our relations with our partner HgCapital are excellent. HgCapital is a bright, progressive firm that really connects with what we are trying to do and has the capital resources to help us deliver our next generation solution, Merlin, as well as our current straight-through processing solutions."

Nic Humphries, director of HgCapital said: "We are delighted to back the MBO of such a well-established, international business and provide our future support to its experienced management team. HgCapital`s strategy is to back technology companies providing business critical solutions to their clients, and Rolfe & Nolan is an excellent example of just such a UK IT company that leads its market worldwide".

Rolfe & Nolan`s next generation solution, Merlin, features a modular design, a single database, cross-asset extendibility, platform independence, and 24 x 7 real-time availability. The Merlin Commissions module has been completed, and the Merlin Margin module has an expected completion date of second quarter 2003. "Merlin is the result of detailed analysis and state-of-the-art industry practice," Freeman said. "The high level of endorsement that we are getting from the marketplace only underlines the strength of Merlin`s design." Rolfe & Nolan`s Straight-Through Processing (STP) applications range from the back office to the front end, all of which Rolfe & Nolan delivers under an Application Service Provider (ASP) business model, allowing clients an easy, cost-effective way to outsource their hardware, network connectivity, application processing and exchange connectivity requirements.