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NEW YORK, NY, July 28, 2010 — Merrill DataSite®, the leading virtual data room provider solutions for business communication and information management, today reported a record number of M&A transactions for the first half of 2010 in the United States.

According to an analysis of M&A transactions conducted by Merrill DataSite®:

• Deals over $1BN – Up 95 percent YTD
• Deals $500M – $1BN – Up 97 percent YTD
• Deals $100M – $500M – Up 64 percent YTD

“We are seeing the largest increase and the highest volume of M&A in recent history,” said Richard A. Martin Jr., Senior Director of Merrill DataSite. “The fact that we have seen the most active six months of M&A activity in recent years leads us to believe that the remainder of 2010 will continue to be a busy year for companies looking either to acquire or to sell.”

While 2010 has been a strong year for M&A, Q2 saw a 54 percent increase in $1BN-plus deals.

In Merrill DataSite’s deal space, while a comparison of deal flow in 2010 to the dismal activity in 2009 shows an obvious increase, Merrill DataSite’s business has seen a 15 percent average increase year-over-year for the past three years, indicating long-term economic growth.

At the same time, Merrill DataSite is finding that these transactions are requiring more data flow and exchange than ever before, an indicator of the increase in M&A due diligence. Thus far, the amount of documents reviewed increased 127 percent.

“Not only are the deals larger, but the scrutiny is higher,” Martin said. “We have seen a huge increase in the amount of documents being shared between companies that are looking to execute a transaction. More documents mean more due diligence and valuation to ensure successful transactions by all parties.”

For more information on Merrill DataSite, please visit www.datasite.com.

About Merrill DataSite

Merrill DataSite® (www.datasite.com) is a secure virtual data room (VDR) solution that optimizes the due diligence process by providing a highly efficient and secure method to share key business information between multiple parties. Merrill DataSite provides unlimited access for users worldwide, as well as real-time activity reports, site-wide search at the document level, enhanced communications through the Q&A feature and superior project management service, all of which help to reduce transaction time and expense. Merrill DataSite’s multilingual support staff is available from anywhere in the world, 24/7, and can have your VDR up and running with thousands of pages loaded within 24 hours or less.

With its deep roots in transaction and compliance services, Merrill Corporation has a cultural, organization-wide discipline in the management and processing of confidential content and Merrill DataSite is the first virtual data room providers to understand customer and industry needs by earning an ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certificate of registration – the highest standard for information security – and is currently the world’s only VDR certified for operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Merrill DataSite’s ISO certification is available for review at: www.datasite.com/security.htm.

As the leading provider of VDR solutions, Merrill DataSite has empowered nearly 2 million unique visitors to perform electronic due diligence on thousands of transactions totaling trillions of dollars in asset value. Merrill DataSite VDR solution has become an essential tool in an efficient and legally defensible process for completing multiple types of financial transactions.