Laurel Hill Achieves Perfect Win Record for Clients Involved in Proxy Contests During 2010. Canada's Best Win Record for 3 Consecutive Years

TORONTO, ONTARIO, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK--(Marketwire - Jan. 18, 2011) - The Laurel Hill Advisory Group ("Laurel Hill") is pleased to announce a significant performance milestone – an unblemished win record for contested board elections during 2010. Laurel Hill represented both management and concerned shareholders in very challenging and complex proxy fights. This is more notable as Laurel Hill's Canadian team was involved in fully half of all publicly announced proxy contests that occurred in Canada this past year – more than any other proxy solicitation firm (based primarily on SEDAR^® 3^rd party proxy solicitation filings for 2010). This exceptional achievement builds on Laurel Hill's third consecutive year of having the industry-leading win record in Canada.

"Proxy contests for control of the board represent one of the most challenging situations a corporation will face, as the outcome often has a critical impact on its leadership and strategic direction, along with its shareholders and stakeholders. Similar to a complex merger/acquisition, the stakes are extremely high and require the proxy solicitor to utilize all their resources and skills to positively influence the outcome," comments Brad Allen, Senior Vice President, Laurel Hill Canada. "While our achievement is focused on the Canadian market, it is the entire North American resources that Laurel Hill brings to a transaction which ensures we can drive continued success."

David Salmon, Senior Vice President, Laurel Hill Canada adds, "We take great pride in generating the necessary results for our clients and highly appreciate the ongoing confidence they have in our abilities. Our team is the most proven and experienced proxy group in Canada and our results reinforce this. Whether an M&A transaction, corporate governance concern or proxy contest, our clients engage us because they want to ensure the best possible outcome."

About The Laurel Hill Advisory Group

The Laurel Hill Advisory Group is North America's only independent, cross border proxy solicitation firm. Independence means we focus solely on your interests, and are not subject to the conflicts that can arise within other proxy firms having a transfer agent ownership. Cross border operations allows us to effectively reach shareholders regardless of their location – Canada, US and globally. Our team's experience has resulted in Canada's best proxy contest win record for the past 3 years, and on both sides of the border we are regularly engaged on high profile, complex and contentious situations involving M&A, restructuring, and corporate governance issues. We focus on providing accurate, actionable intelligence. Combining this with tactical expertise and efficient execution consistently produces industry leading results.