Berkery, Noyes & Co. represents The Hampton-Brown Company in its sale to National Geographic Society

New York, February 28, 2006 — Berkery, Noyes & Co., LLC announced today that it represented The Hampton-Brown Company, the leading publisher of English as a Second Language learning materials, in its sale to National Geographic Society (“NGS”). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Hampton-Brown, founded 25 years ago by Sherry Long, has focused its publishing efforts on language and literacy materials for under-performing students and for students whose first language is not English. Its materials have been in wide use in U.S. schools by students from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. In the area of ESL (English as a Second Language), Hampton-Brown set the standard with its state-of-the-art programs High Point and Avenues.

Hampton-Brown founder and CEO Sherry Long has been named Chairman and CEO of the new National Geographic School Publishing Group, reporting to John Fahey, President and CEO of NGS. This newly created division will combine the Hampton-Brown imprint, and its focus on meeting the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse student populations, with National Geographic School Publishing, a leader in the development of nonfiction, supplemental education materials. The new enterprise will be headquartered in Carmel, California, with offices in Washington, DC; Evanston, Illinois; San Antonio, Texas; and Salinas, California.

About Berkery, Noyes & Co., LLC

Berkery, Noyes is one of the pre-eminent merger and acquisition firms serving the information industry, having completed more than 400 merger and acquisition transactions since inception. Among the most recent transactions completed by Berkery, Noyes over the last twelve months are the acquisition of Delta Education LLC by School Specialty, Inc, ProQuest Company’s acquisition of Voyager Expanded Learning, the sale of Facts on File to Veronis Suhler Stevenson, Wicks Medical Information’s acquisition of DesignWrite, the sale of Medquest Communications to Vendome Associates, the sale of Kurzweil Educational Systems to Cambium Learning, the acquisition by WebMD Health of Conceptis Technologies, the sale of Current Medicine Group to Springer Science+Business Media, and the acquisition by Discovery Communications of AIMS Multimedia.

Berkery, Noyes’ clients include private companies seeking a buyer, and most of the major international information companies and private equity firms who use the firm’s expertise in locating, analyzing and negotiating with acquisition candidates and in managing divestitures. The firm operates with a staff of twenty-six professionals serving the information and publishing industry from offices in New York.