Matthew McGrath Joins Wachovia Securities' Strategic Advisory Group

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wachovia Securities announced today that Matthew McGrath has accepted an offer to join the firm's Investment Banking Division as a Managing Director in the Strategic Advisory Group. McGrath, based in Los Angeles, will head the Western expansion of the group's investment banking effort and will report to Rick Dowd, Managing Director and head of the Strategic Advisory Group.

McGrath comes to Wachovia Securities after nine years at J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., where he was Managing Director and group head of the Mid- Corporate Investment Banking Group in the western United States. In this role, he managed investment banking relationships and transactions with middle- market companies across a wide range of sectors, including healthcare, consumer products, retail, media and business services. McGrath holds a law degree from Loyola Law School, a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and is a CFA charter holder.

"Matthew's decision to join our team will propel our expansion in the West," said Dowd. "He will lead our West Coast effort, and his significant track record of managing relationships and executing complex transactions with a variety of middle-market companies will be a great asset to our practice. I am very pleased he's decided to start the next chapter of his career with Wachovia."

The Strategic Advisory Group provides investment banking services to clients of the company's General Banking Group Wholesale segment. McGrath will partner with the General Bank's western expansion team to offer key investment banking services to commercial and wholesale clients including M&A, leveraged finance, equity and structured products.

"We are excited to partner with Matthew and pleased that he will be based in the California market," said Howard Halle, Commercial Banking Executive based in Oakland, Calif. "This partnership and the additional services we are able to provide will significantly enhance our client relationships."

Wachovia Securities' Investment Banking practice provides a complete range of financing and advisory services to financial sponsor groups and corporate clients through eight industry groups: Consumer and Retail; Energy and Power; Financial Institutions; Healthcare; Industrial Growth; Media and Communications; Real Estate; and Technology.

Wachovia Securities is the trade name for the corporate, investment banking and capital markets businesses of Wachovia Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC (WCM), Wachovia Securities International Limited, and Wachovia Bank, N.A. Wachovia Securities is also the trade name for the retail brokerage businesses of WCM's affiliates, Wachovia Securities, LLC, Wachovia Securities Financial Networks, LLC, Wexford Clearing, LLC, and First Clearing, LLC. Wachovia's proprietary research is branded Wachovia Research.

Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, is a U.S. broker-dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., and the Securities Investor Protection Corp. Wachovia Securities International Limited is a U.K. incorporated investment firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

About Wachovia:

Wachovia Corporation is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies, providing a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services. Wachovia has retail and commercial banking operations in 21 states with 3,400 retail banking offices from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California. In addition, two core businesses operate under the Wachovia Securities brand name: retail brokerage with 768 offices in 48 states and service affiliate offices in Latin America, and corporate and investment banking serving clients in selected corporate and institutional sectors globally. Other nationwide businesses include mortgage lending in all 50 states and auto finance covering 46 states. Globally, Wachovia serves clients through more than 40 international offices. Online banking is available at wachovia.com; online brokerage products and services at wachoviasec.com; and investment products and services at evergreeninvestments.com. At March 31, 2007, Wachovia had assets of $706.4 billion and market capitalization of $105.3 billion.