<body.content> <block> <p>NEW YORK, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ — SG Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB), a division of Societe Generale Group, announced today that it willoffer a range of new financial products based on the MSCI(R) Hedge Invest Index to U.S. investors.</p> <p>The financial products, most of which are available immediately, are designed tooffer investors exposure to the MSCI Hedge Invest Index.</p> <p>Laurent Sroussi, Managing Director of equity derivatives sales at SG CIB, said, “The MSCI Hedge Invest Index, unlike otherhedge fund indices, consists entirely of funds that have weekly liquidity. This combined with SG CIB’s recognized experience and expertise in structured products has positioned SG CIB to create arange of new products for institutional and private client investors.”</p> <p style=”pre-list”> Among the products SG CIB has created are:
— Certificates and Notes that provide investors full exposure to the
positive and negative performance of the Index;
— Principal Protected Notes offering principal protection plus
participation to the positive performance of the Index; and
— Warrants providing leveraged exposure to the performance of the
Index
</p> <p>The products will be issued by SG CIB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, SG Structured Products, Inc.</p> <p>SG Corporate & investment Banking was a pioneer in the fund-linked derivatives business and has a proven track record and a leading market reputation in equity derivatives and structured products. It was named “Equity Derivative House of the Year 2003” by The Banker, “Equity Derivatives House of the Year” by Risk Magazine in 2001 and 2002, and “Equity Derivatives House of the Year 2001″ by IFR.</p> <p>In the United States, securities, underwriting, trading, and brokerage activities and advisory services are conducted by SG Cowen Securities Corporation, a subsidiary of Societe Generale and a registered broker-dealer, member of NYSE, NASD and SIPC.</p> <p>About the MSCI Hedge Invest Index</p> <p>The MSCI Hedge Invest Index (the Index) is an investable hedge fund index provided by MSCI, a leading provider of equity, fixed income and hedge fund indices. The Index consists of a diverse sample of hedge funds that represent a broad range of hedge fund strategies offering weekly liquidity. The Index was constructed and is maintained by MSCI according to the MSCI Investable Hedge Fund Index Methodology, using eligible funds chosen from the Lyxor Asset Management platform. Lyxor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Societe Generale Group specializing in structured funds and alternative investment activities. As of October 7, 2003, the Index contained 74 funds in 11 investment processes. The number of funds in the Index is expected to increase over time.</p> <p style=”pre” id=”pre1″> NOTE TO EDITORS:
SOCIETE GENERALE GROUP
</p> <p>Societe Generale is one of the largest financial services groups in the euro-zone. The Group employs more than 80,000 people worldwide in three key businesses:</p> <p style=”pre-list”> — Retail Banking : Société Générale serves more than 15 million retail
customers worldwide.
— Asset Management : Société Générale is one of the largest banks in the
euro-zone in terms of assets under management (EUR 273 billion,
June 2003).
— Corporate & Investment Banking : SG CIB ranks among the leading banks
worldwide in euro capital markets, derivatives and structured
finance.
</p> <p>Societe Generale is included in the four major socially responsible investment indexes. <a>http://www.socgen.com/</a></p> <p>SG Corporate & Investment Banking</p> <p>SG CIB is the Corporate and Investment Banking arm of the Societe Generale Group. Present in over 45 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia, SG CIB is a bank of reference in:</p> <p style=”pre-list”> — Euro Capital Markets: A top ten player in debt and equity segments
(bonds, securitisations, syndicated loans, equity-linked and equity
issues).
— Derivatives: Among the world leaders in equity derivatives and in many
interest rate, credit, foreign exchange and commodities derivatives.
— Structured Finance: A worldwide leader in export, project and
structured commodity finance.
</p> <p>Combining innovation and quality of execution, SG CIB provides corporates, financial institutions and investors with value-added integrated financial solutions.www.sgcib.com</p> <p>Disclaimer: This material has been prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any of the securities referenced herein, any other security or instrument, or to participate in any investment strategy. Any offer and sale of the securities referenced may only be made pursuant to a final offering memorandum for those securities. This material also should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell the securities referenced herein, any other security or instrument, or to participate in any investment strategy, and it does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation or the particular needs of any specific person. Investments in structured products involve a certain level of risk and, therefore, should be made only by persons capable of appreciating the nature of the risks that are inherent to structured products.</p> <p>The MSCI indexes are the exclusive property of Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. (“MSCI”). MSCI and the MSCI index names are service mark(s) of MSCI or its affiliates and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by Societe Generale. The financial securities referred to herein are not sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by MSCI, and MSCI bears no liability with respect to any such financial securities. The [Prospectus] contains a more detailed description of the limited relationship MSCI has with Societe Generale and any related financial securities. No purchaser, seller or holder of this product, or any other person or entity, should use or refer to any MSCI trade name, trademark or service mark to sponsor, endorse, market or promote this product without first contacting MSCI to determine whether MSCI’s permission is required. Under no circumstances may any person or entity claim any affiliation with MSCI without the prior written permission of MSCI. </p> <datasource>SG Corporate & Investment Banking</datasource> </block> <block class=”contact”> <p>CONTACT: Jim Galvin, Media Relations, +1-212-278-7131,<br/><virtloc idsrc=”dummy” value=”dummy”>[email protected]</virtloc>, for SG Corporate & Investment Banking</p> </block> <block class=”website”> <p>Web site: <a>http://www.socgen.com/</a><br/><a>http://www.sgcib.com/</a> </p> </block> </body.content>
