TIMBERWeb.COM, a leading timber industry eMarket, announces that it has appointed UBS Warburg as its adviser in connection with its forthcoming private equity funding.

Keith Richmond, CEO of TIMBERWeb.COM, said: “The proposed equity funding will enable us to make a step change in our trading platform eTrader, as well as developing the on-line timber community we have been building for the last three years. We intend to create a leading platform for trading timber and forest products over the Internet.

“We are pleased to have secured the support of UBS Warburg, a leading global investment bank.”

Max Ziff, Managing Director of UBS Warburg, said: “We are delighted to be working with TIMBERWeb.COM. The company already has an excellent web site that is well visited by participants throughout the timber industry. This is a very fragmented industry and TIMBERWeb.COM is ideally placed to benefit from the rapid e-commercialisation which is taking place.”

TIMBERWeb.COM won the 1998 FT Business Website ‘Site to Watch’ Award and was ‘Highly Commended’ in the 1999 New Media Age ‘Business Publishing’ Awards.

Malcolm Morley, Chief Operating Officer of TIMBERWeb.COM, said: “The finance to be raised will enable the TIMBERWeb eMarket to further consolidate its position as the leading international timber/lumber community and trading platform. Timber/lumber buyers and sellers around the world will get the maximum value from the transparency, independence and extensive functionality that the eMarket offers.

“The level of traffic we are seeing through the site is very encouraging with more than 1.1 million hits in April this year alone, an increase in excess of 30 per cent since January.”

The company has also appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers and Dibb Lupton Alsop in connection with the above fundraising.

www.timberweb.com has constantly updated news from the worldwide timber industry, plus international general and business news. It also provides monthly global interactive market research of the timber industry.

TIMBERWeb.COM is headquartered in Suffolk, England. UBS Warburg, a financial services group of UBS AG, is regulated in the UK by the Securities and Futures Authority and is a member of the London Stock Exchange.