Acquisition

Close Brothers Group PLC
14 January 2005






             CLOSE BROTHERS GROUP PLC ("CLOSE BROTHERS") ANNOUNCES
   THE ACQUISITION OF THE COMMERCIAL ASSET FINANCE ACTIVITIES OF CATTLES PLC
                                  ("CATTLES ")

Close Brothers announces that it has acquired Cattles Commercial Finance Limited
("CCF"), the commercial asset finance subsidiary of Cattles.

Based in Hull, CCF provides leasing and hire purchase facilities to fund the
acquisition of commercial vehicles and engineering and manufacturing plant by
small and medium sized companies situated throughout the UK. In the year ended
31 December 2003 CCF made pre tax profits of £4.2 million and as at completion
the combined loan book totalled approximately £68 million.

The purchase has been made by Close Brothers' banking subsidiary, Close Brothers
Limited and the business will be incorporated into its existing asset finance
activities. The acquisition was funded from existing resources and the cash
consideration of £15.9 million reflects a premium of £2.2 million to the net
assets acquired of approximately £13.7 million, subject to a completion audit.
Additionally, Close Brothers has procured the repayment to Cattles of the
inter-company funding of approximately £54 million. Cattles has committed to
cover bad debts incurred on the loan book as at completion in excess of the
doubtful debt provisions held, up to a limit of £2.4 million.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mr Hodges, Chairman of Close Brothers Limited,
said "CCF is an excellent addition to our long established commercial asset
finance activities and builds upon our strong market position. We expect initial
profitability to be affected by our more stringent underwriting criteria and the
adoption of our funding policies. Thereafter, we expect this business to
continue to grow and generate a rate of return broadly in line with our existing
lending businesses."



Press enquiries:

Close Brothers Limited:              Stephen Hodges - 020 7426 4000




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange