CARTER, LEDYARD & MILBURN REPRESENTS UNITED BUSINESS MEDIA IN ACQUISITION OF  ALLISON-FISHER

--Deal Strengthens United’s Automotive Market Research Business--

NEW YORK, June 1, 2001 -- Wall Street law firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn announced today that it is representing United Business Media plc of the United Kingdom in connection with its acquisition of Allison-Fisher International, Inc., a leading supplier of syndicated market research to the automotive industry in the United States.

Carter, Ledyard & Milburn attorneys involved in the transaction include corporate partner James E. Abbott, tax partner Howard J. Barnet, ERISA counsel Patricia Matzye and associates Richard J. Horne, Austin D. Keyes and Patrick Bowman.

United Business Media’s market research business, NOP World, is the world’s ninth largest market research company and one of the fastest growing research companies in the United States. Its brands include NOP Research Group, the largest custom research company in the UK; Audits & Surveys; Market Measures Interactive; Strategic Marketing Corporation; and Mediamark Research. NOP Automotive is the one of the largest suppliers of specialist market research services to the automotive industry.

Michigan-based Allison-Fisher International was founded in 1982 and has risen to become a leading supplier of syndicated market research to the automotive industry in the United States. In 2000, AFI clients accounted for all the major makers of passenger vehicles in the US market, as well as many of the more ‘niche’ brands. Its primary products include the Awareness, Intentions and Purchase Studies used by automotive clients to determine future demand patterns; the Automotive Image Study, which tracks the image of the major automotive players in the US market; and AFECTS, a tracking study which assesses the effectiveness of automotive advertising.

Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP (www.clm.com), established in 1854, has approximately 104 attorneys and has been headquartered on Wall Street since its founding and has additional offices in midtown Manhattan and Washington, DC. Carter Ledyard's general practice includes corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, litigation, intellectual property, environmental, employment, media and technology, immigration, investment regulation, antitrust, trusts and estates, maritime, ERISA, exempt organizations, real estate, tax and bankruptcy. A significant part of the firm's practice involves representing overseas-based clients and their U.S. affiliates, financial institutions and other financial services providers, governmental entities and media and technology clients.