16 May 2005

HSBC TO ACQUIRE ATLANTIC ADVISORS

HSBC Investments (USA) Inc. is to acquire Atlantic Advisors LLC ('The Atlantic'), a privately held fixed income investment management company headquartered in New York City. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2005.

The Atlantic is a leading specialist manager of global emerging markets fixed income products for some of the world's largest corporations as well as institutional and individual investors. The core portfolio management team of Peter Marber, Michael Gagliardi and Denise Simon collectively have more than 50 years of experience investing in markets in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. At 31 December 2004, The Atlantic had assets under management of over US$700 million.

As announced on 4 May 2005, and subject to receiving the necessary legal and regulatory approvals, HSBC is establishing HSBC Halbis Partners, a specialised investment business, into which it intends to integrate The Atlantic in due course. Together with other specialist businesses and HSBC Investments, HSBC Halbis Partners will form part of HSBC's Group Investment Businesses which, at December 2004, had assets under management of US$224 billion. At December 2004, the HSBC Group as a whole had assets under management of US$476 billion.

Chris Cheetham, the prospective global CEO of HSBC Halbis Partners, commented: "This acquisition will significantly enhance HSBC's capabilities and expertise in managing global emerging markets fixed income portfolios. It is the latest addition to HSBC's fixed income business, headed by Gregg Diliberto, and gives us a team of well known professionals with an impressive track record.

"This acquisition also confirms and strengthens our commitment to building HSBC Halbis Partners into a focused 'alpha' business."

Peter Marber, president of The Atlantic, said: "We're thrilled to join an institution with a great global platform for our specialised products. With the company's strong resources and unparalleled commitment to emerging markets, we couldn't imagine any better partner than HSBC."

†: Figures prepared on the basis of The Atlantic's own accounting policies under US GAAP.

Media enquiries:
Stephen Cohen on +1 212 525 6901 or at stephen.e.cohen@us.hsbc.com.

Notes to editors:
1. HSBC Halbis Partners
HSBC is currently seeking legal and regulatory approvals to establish HSBC Halbis Partners in the USA and other jurisdictions. Until HSBC Halbis Partners is created in the USA, it will be a trading name of HSBC Investments (USA) Inc. HSBC Halbis Partners will be a specialised fundamental active investment business, focusing on delivering sustainable, value-added performance in selected areas including fixed income, Asian and emerging markets equities, European equities, and some alternative strategies. It will have around 200 investment professionals based in London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong.
2. The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc is headquartered in the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 110 million customers worldwide from over 9,800 offices in 77 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,277 billion at 31 December 2004, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.