The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, The Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn, represented by PGGM Vermogensbeheer B.V., and Fjärde AP-Fonden are Court-appointed Co-Lead Plaintiffs and are represented by lead counsel Kessler Topaz, Bernstein Litowitz, and Kaplan Fox in this securities fraud class action arising out of the merger between Bank of America Corp. ("BoA") and Merrill Lynch & Co ("Merrill") announced on September 15, 2008 and that closed on January 1, 2009.

On September 25, 2009, Co-Lead Plaintiffs filed their Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint (the "CAC"). The gravamen of the CAC is that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants violated the federal securities laws by making a series of highly-material false statements and omissions concerning: (1) Defendants' secret agreement to allow Merrill to pay, on an accelerated basis and prior to the close of the Merger, up to $5.8 billion in bonuses to its executives and employees; (2) Merrill's undisclosed losses, which were in excess of $15 billion during October and November 2008 alone; (3) BoA's own unprecedented losses; (4) the internal debate prior to the shareholder vote on the Merger amongst senior BoA officers concerning invoking the material adverse change clause ("MAC") in the Merger agreement, as a result of Merrill's massive losses; (5) BoA senior management's decision to invoke the MAC within days of the shareholder vote; (6) BoA's agreement to proceed with the Merger only after the Secretary of the Treasury threatened to fire BoA's senior management and the Board if they invoked the MAC; and (7) the $138 billion taxpayer bailout BoA required to close the Merger.

The truth about Merrill's financial condition and its materially adverse impact on BoA was not revealed until January 12, 2009, and investors did not learn of the massive taxpayer bailout until January 15. On January 21, 2009, investors finally learned that despite Merrill's staggering losses, BoA had allowed Merrill to pay $3.6 billion in bonuses before the merger closed. As these facts became known, the price of BoA common stock plummeted from $12.99 per share to a low of $5.10 per share, causing a market capitalization loss of approximately $50 billion.

COURT APPOINTED LEAD COUNSEL

KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP Gregory M. Castaldo David Kessler Sean M. Handler Darren J. Check Sharan Nirmul Jennifer L. Joost Richard A. Russo, Jr. Joshua D'Ancona	BERNSTEIN LITOWITZ BERGER & GROSSMANN LLP Max W. Berger Steven B. Singer Gerald H. Silk Hannah G. Ross Boaz A. Weinstein Ann Lipton John J. Rizio-Hamilton Katherine M. Sinderson	KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER, LLP Robert N. Kaplan Frederic S. Fox Joel B. Strauss Donald R. Hall Hae Sung Nam Melinda Rodon
Information regarding the bar admissions of the attorneys at Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman, LLP and Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, LLP may be viewed via the links to the respective firms' websites.
Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP 280 King of Prussia Road Radnor, PA 19087 Tel.: 610.667.7706 Fax: 610.667.7056 www.btkmc.com	Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP 1285 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019 Tel: 212.554.1400 Fax: 212.554.1444 www.blbglaw.com	Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, LLP 850 Third Avenue, 14th Floor New York, NY 10022 Tel: 212.687.1980 Fax: 212.687.7714 www.kaplanfox.com