Legg Mason Creates New Entity to Service Separately Managed Accounts (SMA)

BALTIMORE, April 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Legg Mason, Inc. today announced the creation of a new registered investment adviser, Legg Mason Private Portfolio Group, LLC (LMPPG). LMPPG will be responsible for managing Legg Mason's Separately Managed Account (SMA) platform, which it acquired as part of the acquisition of Citigroup Asset Management(1) in December, 2005. Legg Mason is the largest manager of separately managed accounts in the industry, according to Cerulli Associates.(2)

Roger Paradiso will serve as President and Chief Investment Officer of LMPPG. He conceptualized, developed and delivered the industry leading Multiple Discipline Account(R) (MDA) Program in 1997. He has 18 years investment experience and has been part of Legg Mason, Citigroup Asset Management and predecessor firms since 1988. Mike Scotto will serve as Chief Investment Strategist and will continue to head the client and financial advisor communications effort. He has 22 years investment experience and has been part of Legg Mason, Citigroup Asset Management and predecessor firms since 1984.

LMPPG will contract with Legg Mason investment management subsidiaries to provide subadvisory services for client accounts. Initially, the subadvisers will include ClearBridge Advisors, Western Asset and Brandywine Global. The subadvisory structure will allow Legg Mason to easily and efficiently add new investment managers and investment management portfolios to its SMA platform. LMPPG will be responsible for managing the portfolios based on the investment instructions provided by the subadvisers as well as for overlay portfolio management, client management, transaction execution, private client services and MDA and account rebalancing, as needed.

"I am very enthusiastic about the creation of LMPPG. Not only will we be able to further leverage a leading business segment that we acquired in the acquisition, but we can now tap into the capabilities of our various investment subsidiaries to offer clients an expanded choice of some of the industry's most well regarded managers," stated Mark Fetting, Senior Executive Vice President, Global Managed Investments for Legg Mason, Inc.

About Legg Mason

Legg Mason is a global asset management firm, with approximately $945 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2006. The company provides active asset management in many major investment centers throughout the world. Legg Mason is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, and its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: LM).

(1) Citigroup Asset Management is a mark of Citigroup, Inc.

(2) Source: Cerulli Associates, as measured by retail assets under management as of December 31, 2006.

Multiple Discipline Account (MDA) is a registered service mark of the Legg Mason Private Portfolio Group, LLC