STATE STREET RESEARCH HIRES INDUSTRY VETERAN MIREN ETCHEVERRY AS CO-PORTFOLIO MANAGER FOR INTERNATIONAL EQUITY PORTFOLIOS

BOSTON, Mass., May 1, 2002 - State Street Research & Management Company, one of the nation's oldest investment managers, today announced that Miren Etcheverry has joined the firm's international equity team as a co-portfolio manager responsible for the State Street Research International Equity Fund, State Street Research Concentrated International Fund and the firm's institutional international portfolios. Ms. Etcheverry will report to James Weiss, CFA, chief investment officer - equities, and will co-manage the investments with Eleanor Marsh, a member of the International Equity portfolio management team with more than 13 years of investment experience.

"Miren's extensive experience in managing international portfolios will bring tremendous value to our international team," said Weiss. "She has worked in numerous countries around the world and speaks five different languages fluently. Given our research driven, fundamental approach to investing, her experience will prove invaluable when evaluating companies around the globe."

Ms. Etcheverry is a seasoned portfolio manager with 23 years of investment experience in global and international markets. Prior to joining State Street Research, she served as a portfolio manager at Credit Agricole Asset Management managing $600 million in retail mutual funds and institutional portfolios invested in international equity strategies. Previously, she was a portfolio manager of global and international equities for John Hancock Funds and head of the global equity investment team. She also served as head of the Latin American equities investment team and portfolio manager of Latin American equities for Baring Asset Management, where she was responsible for overseeing $1 billion in assets. Prior to that, she worked at Scudder Investments, where she served as global equity analyst, and co-portfolio manager for the Brazil Fund. Previously, she developed and managed an international management consulting practice at Arthur D. Little. She began her career at The World Bank in Washington, DC as a project analyst.

Ms. Etcheverry earned a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and a M.S. in Management with a concentration in Finance from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

State Street Research & Management Company, with a history dating back to 1924, is one of the nation's first investment management organizations. The Boston-based firm is a subsidiary of MetLife (NYSE:MET), one of the world's largest financial services companies. The firm actively manages stock, bond, real estate and balanced portfolios for both institutional and individual investors. As of March 31, 2002, State Street Research managed $51.1 billion in assets, of which $33.8 billion represented institutional clients and $17.3 billion represented retail mutual fund and variable annuity portfolios. The firm manages pension money for many of the largest U.S. corporate pension plans and traces many of its institutional client relationships back more than 30 years. State Street Research also manages money for union programs, public employee pension plans, foundations, endowments, mutual funds for over 649,000 shareholder accounts, as well as individually managed accounts for affluent investors. The firm's Web site address is www.ssrfunds.com.