2009 News Releases

27 August

UBM appoints Robert Gray as Chief Financial Officer

The Board of United Business Media Limited today announces that Robert Gray has been appointed to the post of Chief Financial Officer for United Business Media. Mr Gray will take up his role and will join the Board on 14 September 2009.

Robert Gray joins UBM from Codere S.A. where he has been Chief Financial Officer and a member of Codere’s Executive Committee. Headquartered in Madrid, Codere is a leading global gaming company with operations across eight countries in Europe and the Americas. Codere is listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange under the CDR SM ticker and currently has a valuation of about €350m. Mr Gray joined Codere in 2004 and led the business’s transition to a publicly listed company via its successful IPO in October 2007. As part of this process, Mr Gray was responsible for building the business’s financial reporting and control systems as well as restructuring and rebuilding Codere’s finance organisation which now comprises more than 200 people operating across twelve business units in eight countries.

In addition to Codere’s IPO, Mr Gray executed fixed income financings of €1.3 billion for the company as well as the majority shareholders which simplified Codere’s balance sheet and reduced its cost of capital substantially while enhancing the business’s financial flexibility and supporting its rapid organic and acquisitive growth. Between 2004 and 2008, Codere completed 18 acquisitions for a total of nearly €450m and Codere’s EBITDA rose from €73 million to €235 million. Mr Gray also took lead responsibility for Codere’s financial and fiscal policies and their associated relationships, including relationships with the international investor community.

Before joining Codere, Mr Gray enjoyed a successful 24 year career in investment and commercial banking. From 1999 he was Managing Director, Latin American Investment Banking for Deutsche Bank, based in New York, heading up one of the region’s market-leading franchises with particular strengths in mergers and acquisitions and other strategic services. Prior to his role at Deutsche Bank, Mr Gray spent almost twenty years in a variety of roles at J.P. Morgan Co. with a particular focus on building and managing banking businesses in international markets, notably Latin America.

Mr Gray holds an MBA from Harvard University and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.

There are no matters concerning Mr Gray’s appointment that require to be disclosed under Listing Rule 9.6.13.

David Levin, Chief Executive Officer of United Business Media, said:

"I am delighted to appoint Bob Gray as our Chief Financial Officer and to welcome him to UBM. Bob is a proven business and finance leader with substantial financial and operational management experience in a complex, multi-country business operating in markets which are undergoing structural change driven by the emergence of the online environment. He brings us a strong track record in acquisitions, deep experience of global capital markets and a great international perspective, notably on the high growth emerging economies of Latin America. I look forward to Bob making a significant contribution to the continued development of UBM in the coming months and years."

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Notes to Editors

1. About United Business Media Limited

UBM focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetisation of B2B communities and markets. UBM’s businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists – with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

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