RAPID CITY, S.D., - Black Hills Corp. today announced it has completed the $840 million sale of seven independent power production gas-fired plants to affiliates of Hastings Funds Management and IIF BH Investment, a subsidiary of an investment entity advised by JPMorgan Asset Management.

The net proceeds from this IPP sale are expected to eliminate Black Hills’ need to issue equity to finance the pending acquisition of Aquila’s electric utility in Colorado and four natural gas utilities in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

“Our sale process was comprehensive, and we believe this sale of select IPP assets produced excellent value for our shareholders,” said David R. Emery, chairman, president and chief executive officer for Black Hills Corp.

“We will remain an active participant in the IPP business. We excel in planning, permitting, constructing and operating reliable and efficient power plants. The latest demonstration of our capabilities is the Valencia facility, a 149 megawatt gas-fired power plant in New Mexico, which went into operation ahead of schedule and below budget on May 30.

“In addition, our expert power generation staff will focus on the ongoing construction of the Wygen III power plant near Gillette, Wyo., for our regulated electric utility, Black Hills Power. After the close of the Aquila utility acquisition, and with Colorado Public Utilities Commission approval, we also intend to pursue the permitting and construction of generating facilities to serve our Colorado electric utility customers.”

The IPP sale received regulatory approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, antitrust clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and completion of a federal review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

This sale completed a process that began when the company announced in October 2007 that its board of directors had approved a strategic review, including potential divestiture, of some of its independent power production plants located throughout the western United States. Following a multi-month strategic review and auction process, the company announced in April 2008 it had entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of Hastings and IIF to sell the seven IPPs with a total capacity of 974 megawatts.

The following power plants were included in the sale: Asset (State) Capacity (net megawatts) Fountain Valley (Colorado) 240 Las Vegas II (Nevada) 224 Valencia (New Mexico) 149 Arapahoe (Colorado) 130 Harbor Cogeneration (California) 98 Valmont (Colorado) 80 Las Vegas I (Nevada) 53 Total 974

The following power plants remain with the company in the power generation business segment of our non-regulated energy business unit after the sale:

Asset (State) Capacity (net megawatts) Wygen I (Wyoming)* 90 Gillette Combustion Turbine (Wyoming) 40 Ontario Cogeneration (California) 12 Rupert and Glenns Ferry Cogeneration (Idaho)** 11 Power fund investments (various locations) 5 Total 158 * Mine-mouth coal-fired baseload generation ** Capacity represents the Company’s 50 percent interest in the two power plants

London, U.K. - Palo Alto Software Ltd today announced that its flagship product Business Plan Pro 11.0 has received a ‘highly recommended’ rating from Wokingham-based Company Partners.

Company Partners provides an online service to put people who are looking for business partners in touch with each other, serving both those starting a business, and those growing an existing business. They also enable business angels and those looking for business investment to contact each other directly.

Company Partners also undertakes an annual review of the best business plan applications available and reports on their findings through their Company Partners website. This is the first time that anyone has achieved a highly-recommended rating.

Describing Business Plan Pro, Lawrence Gilbert, Director of Company Partners states Business Plan Pro was “a joy to use, with its easy-to-follow guidance and clear descriptions at each step.” He went on to say it produced, “a polished and professional looking result [and is] highly recommended for any business.”

The review goes on to praise the “easy” setup and installation, and describes the financial section as being based on UK requirements which included “excellent guidance”.

“We are delighted we have received such a ringing endorsement for our latest version from Company Partners,” says Alan Gleeson, Managing Director of Palo Alto Software Ltd. “It is especially pleasing when the independent review covers many of our competitors in the U.K., and we are delighted to be the only business-planning application to receive a ‘highly recommended’ status by Company Partners.” Gleeson goes on to say that “this latest version got a complete overhaul, and is now faster and easier to use than ever before. We are naturally thrilled with this endorsement which justifies our efforts in making Business Plan Pro the fastest and easiest way to write a business plan.”

BUSINESS PLAN PRO the fastest and easiest way to write a business plan
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To read the product review in full, please visit the Company Partners website.

Business Plan Pro 11.0 is available immediately at Palo Alto.co.uk, from Amazon and also from Borders, Oxford Street, London.

About Palo Alto Software Ltd
Palo Alto Software Limited is a privately held company with offices in London, England. Palo Alto Software Limited sells, markets, and distributes international versions of the award-winning software developed by Palo Alto Software, Inc.

Palo Alto Software’s products include Business Plan Pro®, Marketing Plan Pro®, and Email Center Pro®. The company website http://www.paloalto.co.uk , provides product information, product support, and online registration and updates.

Additional information on business planning can be found at http://www.bplans.co.uk.
Click here to access high-resolution images of Business Plan Pro® .

Fortis has sold International Asset Management Limited (IAM) to its management team, supported by certain third party investors.
IAM is a London-based fund-of-hedge-funds manager, originally established in 1989. As at 31 March 2008 it had USD 4.3 billion in assets under management. IAM is one of the former subsidiaries of ABN AMRO Asset Management acquired by Fortis in the consortium bid launched with RBS and Santander for ABN AMRO in 2007.
Lex Kloosterman, member of the Fortis Group Executive Committee and responsible for Asset Management comments: “Following a strategic review of our investment in IAM, we concluded that an MBO would be the best solution, reflecting the interests of all stakeholders, including our shareholders, and IAM’s customers and employees. We wish management every future success. Fortis remains fully committed to further developing our presence in the fund-of-hedge fund sector, through Fortis Investments’ existing majority interest in Cadogan Management.”
Morten Spenner, CEO of IAM adds: “We feel this MBO is the optimal solution for IAM clients and employees. Over time, we have developed a strong and cohesive team which is committed to being amongst the very best in the industry. Our future as an independent specialist is an exciting opportunity for us all. IAM’s new ownership structure generates a strong alignment of interests within the firm plus great depth of experience from our two new external shareholders.”
The transaction will not have a material impact on the Fortis net profit per share. Some solvency relief will accrue to Fortis.

Fortis is an international provider of banking and insurance services to personal, business and institutional customers. We deliver a total package of financial products and services through our own high-performance channels and via intermediaries and other partners. With a market capitalisation of EUR 23.9 billion (30/06/2008), Fortis ranks among Europe’s top 20 financial institutions,. Together with ABN AMRO, we have a presence in over 50 countries and a dedicated, professional workforce of more than 85,000. All this makes us a leader in financial services in Europe, a top 3 private banker and a top tier asset manager. More information is available at www.fortis.com.
International Asset Management (IAM) is one of the oldest specialist hedge fund portfolio managers in Europe. IAM was founded in 1989 and has offices in London and New York. Assets under Management are approximately US$4.3 billion as of end March 2008. IAM continues to specialise in tailor-making portfolios of hedge funds for discerning institutional and individual clients.

MENLO PARK, Calif - OPENLANE, Inc., a leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles, today announced the promotion of Clive Kinross to president of OPENLANE, as well as the promotion of Peter Kelly to chief financial officer of OPENLANE, effective immediately. Both executives have been instrumental in establishing OPENLANE as a pioneer and innovator in the online wholesale automotive auction market and will help the company continue to capitalize on its compelling value proposition to both automotive consignors and dealers.

“Both Clive and Peter have made significant contributions to OPENLANE’s development and have helped establish the company as a leading online wholesale automotive auction. Their levels of passion and dedication to the company have been unparalleled as we have created and continue to grow the online wholesale automotive auction category,” said Roger Butterwick, CEO, OPENLANE. “As we continue to take advantage of that growth, we will look to their leadership to help us take OPENLANE to the next level.”

In his new role as president, Clive Kinross will oversee all sales, marketing, industry-facing and customer-facing activities for the company. He had previously served OPENLANE as executive vice president and president for OPENLANE Canada. Under his guidance OPENLANE has become a trusted partner to the used vehicle industry by making the purchase and sale of used vehicles easier, faster, and more efficient. A native of South Africa, Mr. Kinross trained as a chartered accountant and before co-founding OPENLANE was previously Vice President of Tri Continental Capital, after serving as Vice President at NSA Investments Ltd in South Africa. Mr. Kinross holds Bachelor degrees in commerce and accounting from the University of Witwatersrand.

As chief financial officer, Peter Kelly will oversee all financial, operations and technology activities for OPENLANE. Most recently, Mr. Kelly served as OPENLANE’s senior vice president of strategic initiatives, in which he oversaw the company’s strategic development, data and analytics, marketing, product management and program implementation. Before co-founding OPENLANE, he worked for Taylor Woodrow and as a consultant for McKinsey and Company. Mr. Kelly earned a first class honors degree in engineering from University College Dublin and holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Both Mr. Kinross and Mr. Kelly will report directly to Roger Butterwick, CEO of OPENLANE.

This week a new company with a unique proposition for small to medium-sized businesses has appeared in the highly competitive business insurance sector. Coverzones has responded to significant demand from UK companies by launching a new online business insurance service allowing customers to compare quotes from the UK’s top commercial insurers. Unlike normal aggregator sites though, customers can also buy the insurance they need without leaving the website.

Research commissioned by Coverzones revealed that nearly half of the UK’s 4.5million small to medium-sized businesses (SME’s) would prefer to arrange their small business insurance online. According to the same research findings though, only 4% of them actually succeed in doing so.

In response to this demand Coverzones has launched a new online marketplace at www.coverzones.com to provide quick and easy access to a wide range of business insurance products from the UK’s major commercial insurance companies.

The new service provides SME’s with an online facility to rapidly identify the insurance needs for their particular business, research the market, compare products and prices and then make their purchase, all without leaving the site.

Simon Ball, chief executive of Coverzones said, “There is no reason why the business insurance market cannot emulate the success of the personal lines market in trading online. Coverzones will play a significant role in transforming the business insurance market for consumers by providing an easy to use, online marketplace offering real choice, coupled with the lower costs associated with buying direct and online”.

The company has taken a number of steps to simplify the purchase process including the development of a plain English, online assessment tool to help customers identify the insurance that they need. Coverzones have rationalised the questions that insurance companies ask to ensure that only the information needed to provide a tailor-made quote is collected.

Customers are able to get an unlimited number of free online quotations and store them in their own secure online account facility called MyCoverzones. Every customer can open a MyCoverzones account free of charge and it allows them to save their quotes and purchased policy documentation online. A MyCoverzones account allows customers to generate new quotes or review and make changes to their existing policies all in one place.

Steve Sherlock, chief marketing officer at Coverzones comments: “Coverzones offer a new and unique service for SME’s. We are focussed on simplifying the process of finding and buying business insurance so business consumers can be free and confident to arrange their business insurance independently”.

Coverzones is working in partnership with many of the UK’s major business insurance companies, as well as commercial insurance specialists. The business insurance products available from launch are provided by MMA, Groupama, HCC, Ambient and Flatfish. New product launches this summer will be supported by major brands such as Allianz, AIG, Hiscox, Brit and Sagicor.