Bailard Promotes PhD to Oversee Market Neutral Strategies

FOSTER CITY, CA, April 13, 2009 -Bailard, Inc. announced today that George Y. Sokoloff, PhD, CFA will assume the role of Director of Quantitative Research and lead portfolio manager for Bailard’s long/short and market neutral strategies. He enters the role following colleague Dana Hobson’s (PhD, CFA) departure from the investment management industry. Dr. Sokoloff has played a key role in the development and management of a portion of Bailard’s equity and market neutral strategies since he joined the firm in 2006.

“We’re extremely confident in George’s ability to extend the strong track records of Bailard’s market neutral strategies and look forward to exploiting new opportunities in this rapidly evolving market environment”, said Sonya Thadhani, Chief Investment Officer.

Among Bailard’s successful long/short strategies is Tower Lane, a systematically implemented market neutral REIT strategy. The strategy defied the gravity of the equity markets in 2008, having posted a net return of 8.8% for the calendar year. Since its inception in August 2004, Tower Lane has delivered annualized net of fee returns in excess of 10% with approximately half the volatility of the broader equity market.* The firm is making the strategy available to clients in the form of a fully-transparent, separate account with a $5 mil. investment minimum.

While Sokoloff has no immediate plans to modify the strategy, he will continue to draw on the insights of Bailard’s commercial real estate team to inspire further enhancements to the model used in the management of Tower Lane.

“Bailard has worked to create a robust investment process by coupling its knowledge of trends and valuations in commercial real estate with its quantitative approach to managing long/short equities”, says Sokoloff. “Our 30 years of direct real estate experience give us a unique perspective to identify investment themes in real estate which can be quantified, tested and incorporated if we find they prove beneficial to our approach.”

Bailard views the market neutral REIT strategy as an attractive alternative to a long-only investment in publicly-traded REITs and beneficial to those seeking uncorrelated alpha. Additionally, the firm believes that market neutral strategies such as Tower Lane can have an important role in portfolios given the uncertainty and increased volatility in the equity markets.

Capacity is limited to an additional $100 million in assets. The strategy is offered as a separate account with a 1% management fee and 20% performance-based fee structure. Like other investments, an investment in Bailard’s market neutral strategies may lose money. In particular, since the strategies entail selling securities short, they involve risks in addition to those present in a typical long-only investment portfolio. There can be no assurance that the Tower Lane strategy will achieve its investment objectives. Investors seeking to learn more about Bailard’s capabilities can contact Ashley Lyon, V.P. of Business Development at Bailard, Inc. (650) 571-5800 or alyon@bailard.com.

About Bailard

Bailard, Inc., founded in 1969, is an independent investment management firm based in Foster City, California. Bailard manages assets for institutional and high net worth investors, offering innovative investment solutions ranging from traditional investments to specialty products. Past performance is no indication of future results. For more information, visit www.bailard.com.

*Total Returns

Past performance is no indication of future results. The Tower Lane composite consists of two accounts that pursue the Tower Lane strategy as part of a multi-strategy pooled investment vehicle. The strategy is market neutral to the extent net market exposure is less than +/- 10% of gross assets. Composite returns are a dollar weighted average of account returns. As of 12/31/08, the Composite had $20.0 million in assets under management. Although they incorporate actual trading costs and the reinvestment of dividends (if any), the Composite returns do not reflect custody or other administrative expenses. To calculate the net of fee returns, an annual management fee of 1% (0.83% per month) and the monthly accrued effect of an annual performance allocation of 20% of net profits (subject to a high water mark on investments) have been deducted from the Composite’s monthly gross returns. Comparisons to the equity markets are based on the return and standard deviation of the S&P 500 index, a commonly used large capitalization U.S. stock index. The index is unmanaged, uninvestable and does not reflect transaction costs. Unlike the S&P 500 index, the Tower Lane strategy is a long/short portfolio of publicly traded REIT securities and other non-REIT real estate related securities, which may also hold cash equivalents.