Castanea Partners Announces its Investment in Lee Munder Capital Group

Newton, Massachusetts, April 25 2002 - Castanea Partners today announced that it has completed its minority investment of $11.5 million in Lee Munder Capital Group.

Lee Munder Capital Group ("LMCG") is an investment management firm dedicated to meeting the investment needs of institutional and private clients. The firm currently offers investment products in small cap, mid cap, and large cap growth, small cap absolute return, technology, health care and venture capital. Founded in August 2000, LMCG currently has $1.5 billion in assets under management.

Lee Munder, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Munder Capital Group said "We are excited about Castanea's investment and the insight and support they bring to our team. The investment provides capital to attract additional teams of investment professionals to the firm to support our plans for continued growth."

Brian Knez, Managing Director of Castanea, commented, "This is a great opportunity to back a proven executive in Lee Munder, who has previously established and built a $60 billion enterprise. Lee has assembled a tremendous team of executives and investment professionals. We believe LMCG is an exciting organization that is positioned to continue to attract top investment management resources to provide for the evolving needs for its growing client base."

Robert Smith, Managing Director of Castanea, added, "We believe that LMCG has a unique growth strategy that leverages the firm's top-notch investment expertise, research and management capabilities over the entire investment product line. Our investment in the company is an endorsement of this strategy."

Castanea Partners, Inc. is a private equity investment firm located in the Greater Boston area. The firm was founded 2001 to pursue small to middle market investment opportunities. Castanea was founded and capitalized by Robert Smith and Brian Knez, former Co-CEO's of diversified publishing leader Harcourt General, Inc. and high end retailer The Neiman Marcus Group. They established Castanea following the successful sale of Harcourt General in 2001. Castanea Partners has combined a core team of top Harcourt General executives with experienced private equity professionals.

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