Perpetual Limited — Capital/Financing Update 2004

Sep 23, 2004

Perpetual

Attached is an amended version of the media release 'Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited establishes in-house global equities capability' lodged with the ASX earlier this morning.

Paragraph five of the release contains a reference to 44 million Euro. In the initial version of the release, the Euro symbol was used, however it was replaced by a question mark during the conversion of the document to 'pdf' format. The attached amended version now uses the wording 'Euro' instead of the symbol.

Joanne Hawkins Company Secretary Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited 24 September 2004

Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited establishes in-house global equities capability

• Expands asset management footprint, develops future growth engine
• Accesses growing global equities market with significant growth opportunities
• Perpetual secures proven global equities investment team
• Operations to commence in early 2005

Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited (Perpetual) today announced it is establishing a global equities capability with the recruitment of four renowned global equity specialists from Bank of Ireland Asset Management to be the foundation of its global equities team.

The four specialists, Des Sullivan - Deputy Chief Investment Officer, John Nolan - Deputy Chief Investment Officer, John Forde - Senior Portfolio Manager and Richard Kelly - Senior Portfolio Manager, will be the lead asset managers of a new global equities business domiciled in Dublin. The Dublin team will be supported by research, sales and client service professionals and will comprise 16 members within the first two months of operation.

Two senior Perpetual executives, Mr Rory MacIntyre and Ms Patti Evers, will relocate to Dublin from Sydney to be involved in managing and developing the business for Perpetual's newly established Irish subsidiary. The Industrial Development Agency of Ireland (IDA) is providing valuable support in the establishment phase of the new operations.

Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited managing director, Mr David Deverall, said that today's announcement is a further step in implementing Perpetual's strategy of developing new growth engines by broadening its asset management footprint. This initiative follows on from the recent recruitment of a specialist credit team which will enhance and expand Perpetual's product offering to investors.

"The global equities team, who have an average of 22 vears experience in funds management and have worked together for 10 years, currently manage in excess of A$75 billion (44 billion Euro) in global equities. Perpetual currently has A$2.2 billion in global equities under management. Through our new capability, Perpetual will offer global equities products in the retail, mezzanine and institutional markets in Australia. Most importantly, the move will enable Perpetual to participate in the huge global institutional market," he said.

"Gaining direct access to the expanding global equities market is a logical and important move forward for Perpetual and we are committed to fully developing this business and to taking advantage of the developing trend of global institutional clients to award mandates to specialist global equities managers," Mr Deverall said.

Mr Gerard Doherty, Group Executive – Wealth Management, said the appointment of the new team is the result of an eight month intensive global search conducted with the assistance of New York-based funds management recruitment specialist Warren International.

"We established very strict criteria at the outset of this initiative and commenced a comprehensive alobal search to identify and secure the best individuals to establish our global equities capability. We are delighted to have secured such a high calibre group of individuals with a sound investment philosophy and a long term track record of strong investment performance." Mr Doherty said.

"We will develop a focused range of active global equities products which will be targeted at the institutional market worldwide and the broader Australian market. These products will

offer our clients access to the global equities market with an investment style and philosophy that is consistent with our highly successful domestic equities approach," he said.

Mr Emilio Gonzalez, Chief Investment Officer for Perpetual, said the similar investment approach between the new team and Perpetual would allow a synergistic approach to equities management.

"Our objective was to engage a team that manages money based on a similar philosophy to that of Perpetual. This team's investment process is very similar to ours, being a fundamental, bottom-up approach focusing on quality and value. These synergies mean we can leverage the joint investment expertise of both our global and domestic teams to generate strong performance for our investors.

A spokesperson for the global equities team said they were looking forward to joining the Perpetual team and to building a strong global equities capability for the group.

"We already feel a strong affinity with Perpetual's investment philosophies and processes and we intend to replicate its domestic success in the global market." he said.

Perpetual will establish a share plan for the benefit of the employees of its new global equities business. The final terms of the plan are currently under development. Initially, the four members of the global equities team will participate in the plan as part of their long term remuneration incentives. For this purpose, Perpetual ordinary shares to the value of approximately A$28 million will be issued to the plan trustee by 24 December 2004. The issue price of the shares will be determined as the weighted average price of Perpetual shares traded in the five trading days prior to the signing of employment contracts by the global equities team with Perpetual. There is no requirement for shareholder approval for the issue of these shares. Shares will be held by the trustee and will vest over seven years to the team members subject to the achievement of revenue targets.

Mr Deverall said the Perpetual global equities business was expected to be profitable in the second full year of operations.

"We expect the global equities business to be profitable in the second full year of operations. There will be approximately $20 million (pre-tax) of significant items in 2005. This comprises around A$15 million in one-off establishment costs and A$5 million in start-up operating losses. We expect these significant items to be fully offset by the profits derived from the sale of non-strategic assets, with no reduction in 2005 operating profit after tax."

"The 2005 dividend payment of 90 percent of net profit after tax before goodwill will not be affected by the one-off significant items." Mr Deverall said.

Fidelity Investments, which has managed Perpetual's global equities for the last six years, will continue to manage the Perpetual Fidelity global funds until the new Perpetual global equities business is fully operational early in 2005.

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About the Team:

Des Sullivan

Perpetual Global Equities Chief Investment Officer

Des Sullivan was one of three Deputy Chief Investment Officers within The Bank of Ireland. He was recently given responsibility for Bank of Ireland's entire Europe, Australasia and Far East product (EAFE). (EAFE is global equity without the United States, and is usually sold to US clients looking for non-US exposure). He joined Bank of Ireland in 1994. He previously worked for Ireland's largest life assurance company as a fund manager and as Head of Equities at a major stockbroking company in Ireland. He is a Certified Accountant, holds a M.Sc. in Investment and Treasury from Dublin City University and is a member of the U.K.Securities Institute.

John Nolan Perpetual Global Equities Chief Investment Officer

John Nolan was also one of three Deputy Chief Investment Officers within the Bank of Ireland. He was recently given responsibility for Bank of Ireland's entire global equity product which is usually sold to non-US clients looking for global exposure. He re-joined Bank of Ireland in 1987 from Ireland's largest life assurance company where he worked as a fund manager for two vears. Prior to this he had worked for Bank of Ireland for three vears. He holds a Master's degree in Economics from University College Dublin.

Richard Kelly

Perpetual Global Equities Senior Portfolio Manager

Richard Kelly joined Bank of Ireland in 1985. Prior to this he worked with the Central Bank of Ireland (Irish equivalent of the Reserve Bank of Australia), where he was involved in the management of Ireland's foreign reserves. He is a Certified Accountant.

John Forde

Perpetual Global Equities Senior Portfolio Manager

John Forde joined Bank of Ireland in 1995, having spent five vears as an equity analyst/manager with Ireland's largest life assurance company. He holds a degree in Commerce from University College, Cork, and a M.Sc. in Investment and Treasury from Dublin City University and is a member of the U.K. Society of Investment Professionals.

Rory MacIntyre

Head of Business - Dublin

Rory MacIntyre has been appointed Head of Business for the Dublin operation with responsibility for managing the development of the sales, client service, operations and support functions. Mr MacIntyre, born in Ireland, previously held the position of National Sales Executive for Perpetual Investments, with responsibility for key client relationships.

Patti Evers

Head of Finance and Administration - Dublin

Patti Evers has been appointed Head of Finance and Administration with responsibility for the finance, compliance, administration and IT operations. Ms Evers previously held the role of General Manager Finance and Planning for the Perpetual group with responsibility for operational planning, financial systems and projects, and statutory and board reporting.

About Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited:

Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited is an independent diversified financial services group established in Australia 119 years ago. Perpetual is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:PPT) and is an ASX Top 100 company with a market capitalisation of A$1.8 billion (as at 30 June 2004). Perpetual employs more than 800 staff through offices located in mainland states throughout Australia.

Perpetual Investments, a part of Perpetual's Wealth Management division, is Australia's most highly awarded fund manager, offering products for retail, masterfund and institutional investors. Perpetual Investments has been managing money for Australian investors since 1966 and is widely recognised as an industry leader for its outstanding performance trackrecord and rigorous and consistent investment processes.

Perpetual Investments currently manages in excess of A$22 billion (as at 31 August 2004) across a diverse range of asset classes including Australian shares, property securities, mortgages, infrastructure, fixed interest and cash.

This year, Perpetual Investments was recognised as the Money Management/ASSIRT Fund Manager of the Year, the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year and the Personal Investor Magazine Fund Manager of the Year. The awards are testament to the talent and professionalism of Perpetual's investment team, proven investment process and strength in managing and developing funds management teams.

Go to: www.perpetual.com.au

For further information, please contact:

Mr David Deverall Oľ. Managing Director Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited Ph: (02) 9229 9087

Mr Emilio Gonzalez Chief Investment Officer Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited Ph: (02) 9229 9782

Released by:

Havley Morris Corporate Communications Manager Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited Ph: (02) 9229 3936

24 SEPTEMBER 2004