Instinet Corporation Acquires Interest in Vencast.com; Instinet Purchases 13% of Internet-Based, Interactive Private Equity Network NEW YORK, March 30 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- Instinet Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reuters Group PLC (Nasdaq: RTRSY) and the world's largest agency broker, has acquired a 13 percent interest in Vencast.com ("Vencast"), a solutions provider for the private equity industry, offering a new, secure digital environment which facilitates the process of raising capital for, and investing in, private equity opportunities. Vencast is focused on bringing efficiencies to the institutional private equity transaction process through a unique, and technologically advanced, online information delivery system. Vencast.com will deliver real time, interactive multi-media presentations of established private companies and private equity funds seeking capital through the institutional marketplace. Professional investors are able to gain instant access to transaction critical information on these deals in an unbiased environment, enabling them to make more informed investment decisions in less time while yielding significant cost savings. "Instinet is committed to investing in strategic relationships designed to improve investor performance and to make capital raising more efficient," said Douglas Atkin, CEO of Instinet Corporation. "An important aspect of this agreement will focus on Vencast delivering an Instinet-like business model to a completely new, yet complementary, investment segment." Jeffrey L. Dyment, chairman and co-CEO of Vencast said: "As a new Internet-based company, Vencast aims to become the preeminent private network for global private equity transactions by delivering timely and secure multimedia web-based content to sophisticated investors via the Internet. We are privileged to have Instinet as an investor, as well as a strong supporter and endorser of our business venture." Instinet Corporation, the world's largest agency brokerage firm, trades in over 40 global markets daily and is a member of 18 exchanges in North America, Europe, and Asia. The firm is committed to bringing efficiencies to capital raising worldwide by using technology in securities trading and research to bring issuers and investors closer together. Instinet is the worldwide industry leader in applying advanced technology to agency trading in equities. As a pure agency broker, Instinet seeks only to increase its clients' investment performance by providing them instant access to global liquidity, enhanced efficiency, and greater opportunities to reduce transaction costs. The firm was founded in 1969 and was acquired by Reuters Group PLC (Nasdaq: RTRSY) in 1987. Vencast is a preeminent solution provider to the global institutional private equity industry. Vencast has assembled a team of professionals from the private equity, venture capital, and interactive multimedia industries to build the leading Internet-based information delivery platform for private equity funds and established emerging companies seeking financing. Vencast has offices in New York, San Francisco and Westport, Connecticut. SOURCE: Instinet Corporation CONTACT: Terrence Mulry, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Instinet Corporation, 212-310-9554, or [email protected]; or Tom Kusner, Media Relations, Vencast, 203-227-7921, or [email protected]