August 2, 2002, Singapore - Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) and LexisNexis have entered an agreement to distribute each other's contents and services. Through this strategic tie-up, customers of both companies can now access the core products of a major publisher and a global content aggregator. This tie-up is a first in Asia.

Under the terms of the agreement signed today, SPH will extend its product reach to the Asia Pacific region through the inclusion of its Newslink services in LexisNexis' suite of premier titles. Newslink is a SPH online library system which allows users to search and retrieve newspaper articles from major SPH newspaper titles including English and Chinese flagship dailies - The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao - respectively.

In addition to the regional reach, SPH can tap into LexisNexis' client base in Singapore, consisting chiefly of professionals in the government, academic, legal and corporate sectors, who can now enjoy the added access to Newslink. The tie-up will also benefit existing and new Newslink subscribers, who can tap into the extensive news titles under LexisNexis. LexisNexis is the global leader in providing comprehensive and authoritative business, news and legal information solutions.

"The synergistic partnership between SPH and LexisNexis will boost both parties' presence in the Asia Pacific region," said Mr Tham Khai Wor, Executive Vice President, Marketing, SPH.

Added Mr Tham, "This strategic move complements the SPH Group's intention to enhance our core business competence in content creation. With support from LexisNexis to market Newslink offerings in the Asia Pacific region, we can concentrate our resources in strengthening product content and at the same time, broaden our product reach by tapping on LexisNexis' established networks in Asia Pacific."

Ms Eva Au, Managing Director of LexisNexis, Asia, went on to elaborate, "With increasing liberalisation, it is vital that such synergies be formed, as the enlarged and borderless market will precipitate the flow of information at an even faster rate. While new technologies and knowledge management solutions have enabled us to widen our knowledge base considerably, it is critical that we form partnerships that would give us synergistic benefits through the elimination of duplication, sharing of resources and centralisation of distribution channels."

"The partnership is also a value-enhancement exercise for both parties by leveraging on each other's strengths to offer greater value to our clients," she added.

The two companies are finalising the pricing details for the bundled services and users are expected to pay only a nominal value if they opt to take up the additional valueadded services.

For more information, please contact:

Ms Loh Lai Ping
Vice President, Marketing Promotions
Singapore Press Holdings Limited
DID: 6319-1133
Fax: 6319-8178
Email: lohlp@sph.com.sg

Ms Rachel Lee
Marketing Executive
LexisNexis
DID: 6434-3481
Fax: 6338-0115
Email: rachel.lee@lexisnexis.com

About LexisNexis

LexisNexis Group is a leading global provider of information to legal, corporate, government and academic markets, and publishes legal, tax, regulatory and other information. Operating units include authoritative legal publishers such as Martindale- Hubbell, Matthew Bender, the Butterworths companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America and Africa, Les Editions du Juris-Classeur in France; Abeledo-Perrot in Argentina; Orac in Austria and other leading companies around the world, all members of Reed Elsevier plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK]. The LexisNexis services combine searchable access to over three billion documents from thousands of sources with leading edge systems and tools for managing this content. LexisNexis delivers a high quality resource with which to build legal research and knowledge-management solutions for the entire enterprise, answering questions and solving problems. There are 2.9 million companies and 9.1 million students using LexisNexis. Ninety-seven per cent of the Fortune 500 companies are with LexisNexis and the company has been registering consistent growth in its subscriber base. For more information, please visit www.lexisnexis.com

About SPH

Main board listed Singapore Press Holdings Limited is the leading news and information provider, offering quality content for print, Internet, TV and radio. It is licensed to publish 11 newspapers in the four official languages and six lifestyle periodicals. Everyday, SPH newspapers reach 2.68 million individuals or 89 percent of persons above 15 years old in Singapore while online publication of its six main dailies enjoy some 120 million pageviews a month. SPH has ventured into the broadcast medium and operates two popular free-to-air TV channels, Channel U in Chinese and Channel i in English.