MYSTATE LIMITED — M&A Activity 2011

Aug 30, 2011

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Media Release 31 August 2011

MyState Limited’s plans for national expansion to become a reality

Hobart, 31 August 2011: The Boards of MyState Limited (ASX:MYS, with market capitalisation of around $236 million) and The Rock Building Society Limited (ASX:ROK, with market capitalisation of around $46.3 million and based in Rockhampton, Queensland) announced to the market this morning that they intend to merge, subject to approval by The Rock shareholders of the merger by way of Scheme of Arrangement under the Corporations Act.

The proposed merger follows the successful merger of MyState Financial and Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees in 2009 and comes on the back of a period of considerable consolidation in the Australian banking industry over recent years. This consolidation has been driven by the need for industry participants to build and maintain sufficient financial strength and scale in order to ensure that they can continue to provide their customers with the competitive range of products and services that they expect, particularly in this highly regulated and technologically driven age.

Commenting on the announcement today, the Chairman of MyState Limited, Dr Michael Vertigan AC said, “For some time, the MyState Limited Group has recognised that with a customer base of more than 200,000 Tasmanians, if the Company is to continue to grow and be competitive, it will need to undertake national expansion of our operations. The proposed merger is not only a great development for our 67,000 MyState Limited shareholders, but also for our customers and our community.

“We have had a clear strategic vision to be a highly successful financial services Group, headquartered here in Tasmania, but operating nationally. This merger proposal brings to fruition the first step in the implementation of that longer term vision.

“One of the great things about this proposed merger is that it enables us to find new markets for our products, services and expertise through the long established and highly regarded The Rock Building Society, which serves the rapidly growing central Queensland area.

“Whilst this year’s excellent profit results, released today, are testament to the quality of our people and their commitment to our customers and local community, we recognise that the geographic separation from central Queensland will present us with certain management obstacles. However, we are confident that our senior management team has the capability to manage multiple brands across different geographic locations.

“Our current customers will see no visible changes to the way the MyState Limited Group operates in Tasmania and the community can expect a strong and continued commitment to the service that Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees and MyState Financial are renowned for. However, our customers will benefit in the future from the efficiencies created through increased scale including even more competitive products and services.

“These developments are an exciting phase for MyState Limited and one which we believe will further strengthen our position and enable us to grow for the benefit of all our stakeholders,” Dr Vertigan said.

The proposed merger does not affect the entitlements of current MyState Limited shareholders and they are not required to vote on the proposal. However. MyState Limited shareholders should benefit from the merged entity’s stronger returns that the Company is now expected to generate. The Directors expect that the merger will be strongly earnings per share accretive by the third year.

Before the merger can proceed, The Rock’s shareholders will need to vote on the proposal. If the proposal is approved, shareholders of The Rock will exchange their shares for MyState Limited shares on a proportional basis of 7.75 MYS shares for every 10 ROK shares.

The proposed Scheme of Arrangement is anticipated to be effected by December 2011, subject to the approval of The Rock shareholders and other relevant approvals, including the fulfilment of certain conditions.

ENDS

About MyState Limited

MyState Limited is a non-operating holding company and is a major Tasmanian based listed diversified financial group formed in September 2009 to effect the merger of MyState Financial (MSF), an authorised deposit-taking institution, and Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees (TPT), a trustee and wealth management company. Both MyState Limited and MSF are regulated by APRA and MyState Limited was enabled under Tasmanian legislation to own an authorised trustee company. TPT continues to be regulated by APRA as a registered superannuation entity (RSE). Both MSF and TPT hold Australian Financial Services Licences issued by ASIC.

Registered Office 23 Paterson Street Launceston 7250

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Media Enquiries: Mark Thomas, CPR Communications, phone 0422 006 732

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