Merchant Capital Group Inc. has completed the acquisition of @rgentum Management and Research Corp.

Regulatory approval for the transfer of ownership of @rgentum to Merchant Capital was received on October 24, from the provincial security commissions.

Subsequent to the receipt of the change of control approval, @rgentum filed on November 5, 2002 the preliminary simplified prospectus and preliminary annual information form for the following new mutual funds: @rgentum Short Term Asset Portfolio; @rgentum Income Portfolio; @rgentum Canadian Equity Portfolio; @rgentum Canadian Performance Portfolio; @rgentum U.S. Master Portfolio; @rgentum International Master Portfolio; @rgentum Discovery Portfolio; @rgentum Quebec Balanced Portfolio; @rgentum Canadian L/S Equity Portfolio; and, @rgentum U.S. Market Neutral Portfolio.

@rgentum expects the new funds above to be available for purchase by Canadian investors subject to the receipt from the relevant securities commissions of their approval of the preliminary prospectuses and preliminary annual information forms filed.

Merchant Capital Securities Corporation, the wholly owned financial services subsidiary of Merchant Capital, also announced that it received on August 21, change in control approval from the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada for its previously announced acquisition of Practitioner’s Mutual Planning Inc. On November 12, Practitioners changed its name to Merchant Capital Wealth Management Corp.

MCSC also announced the appointment of Toni Evans as CFO and vice president Regulatory Affairs. Ms. Evans joined MCSC on November 18, and will be responsible for the management of all financial, compliance, and regulatory matters of MCSC and its subsidiaries.

Prior to joining the company, Evans spent over five years in Manulife Financial’s Asset Management Operations as assistant vice president, compliance. In that role, she was accountable for overseeing the regulatory compliance processes within various global locations including Toronto, Boston, London U.K., Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

Prior to joining Manulife Financial, Evans spent nine years with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a member of the Audit Services Group, auditing mutual funds, investment management companies, and brokerage firms. Evans received her Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto in 1987 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1989. Evans is also the only non-American director of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, a U.S. based compliance organization for investment advisors and broker/dealers.