STATE STREET RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT COMPANY SELECTED BY SALOMON SMITH BARNEY AS INVESTMENT MANAGER FOR SEPARATELY MANAGED ACCOUNT PROGRAM

BOSTON, Mass., April 25, 2002 - State Street Research & Management Company, one of the nation's oldest investment managers, announced today that it has been selected by Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) to offer State Street Research's small-cap growth product through one of SSB's managed account programs. The Fiduciary Services Program has the greatest number of accounts of any of the SSB separately managed programs, and is delivered by The Consulting Group, a division of SSB and leader in investment management consulting.

The Consulting Group's Fiduciary Services Program provides access for investors to individually managed portfolios. The services are delivered through a national network of more than 12,000 SSB Financial Consultants in 450 offices around the country. Financial Consultants also can draw on the research capabilities and other resources of SSB, a full-service securities firm with 501 offices in 27 countries.

"This is an enormous opportunity for us to increase distribution of our small-cap growth product, and we are thrilled to be working with such a distinguished leader in the industry," said Kevin Wilkins, a managing director and the head of retail distribution and corporate strategic planning for State Street Research. "State Street Research has been working with financial advisers to offer separately managed accounts for more than three years and diligently building our infrastructure to provide the highest level of service to our financial partners. Our long heritage of investing institutional money in managed accounts has given us the foundation to build this business and mark this very strategic move in working with a wirehouse like Salomon Smith Barney." A report published by Cerulli Associates on broker-sponsored separate account segments ranked SSB as the nation's largest distributor of managed accounts, as of the end of 2001. The objective of State Street Research's small-cap growth product is to consistently outperform the Russell 2000 Growth Index and a peer group of small-cap growth portfolios. For the past five years, the State Street Research small-cap growth style has outperformed the Russell 2000 Growth Index. "As the leader in separately managed accounts, we use a rigorous due diligence process in selecting investment managers and typically limit admission into the programs to managers maintaining the highest ratings from our research analysts, " said Glenn T. Regan, CFA, Director of Research at SSB Consulting Group. "Our mission is to provide the highest level of sophisticated financial advice to our clients and to recommend only investment advisers that can appropriately execute the client's investment strategy." The Consulting Group, a division of Salomon Smith Barney, has been a leader in investment management consulting over the last 28 years. The group is committed to delivering customized, long-term investment strategies for institutional and individual clients. Through its exceptional roster of client services, comprehensive investment advisor research, cutting-edge technology and highly educated financial consultants, the Consulting Group is well-positioned to provide clients with the analysis and advice needed to meet the challenges of investing in the new millennium.

State Street Research & Management Company, with a history dating back to 1924, is one of the nation's first investment management organizations. The Boston-based firm is a subsidiary of MetLife (NYSE:MET), one of the world's largest financial services companies. The firm actively manages stock, bond, real estate and balanced portfolios for both institutional and individual investors. As of March 31, 2002, State Street Research managed $51.1 billion in assets, of which $33.8 billion represented institutional clients and $17.3 billion represented retail mutual fund and variable annuity portfolios. The firm manages pension money for many of the largest U.S. corporate pension plans and traces many of its institutional client relationships back more than 30 years. State Street Research also manages money for union programs, public employee pension plans, foundations, endowments, mutual funds for over 649,000 shareholder accounts, as well as individually managed accounts for affluent investors. The firm's Web site address is www.ssrfunds.com.