BMO Capital Markets Expands Research Coverage of the North American Energy Sector...

BMO Capital Markets Expands Research Coverage of the North American Energy
Sector and the Semiconductor Industry

DENVER and SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - BMO Capital
Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group
(NYSE, TSX: BMO), has hired Alan Laws as a Senior Equity Analyst to the firm's
North American Energy group and Ambrish Srivastava, PhD., as a Senior Equity
Analyst to the firm's Technology team.
Based in Denver, Mr. Laws will focus on covering large cap oil services and
drilling companies. Phillip Jungwirth has also been hired as an equity analyst
to assume coverage of U.S. exploration and production companies.
Dr. Srivastava will cover companies in the semiconductor industry and will be
based in San Francisco. Dr. Srivastava returns to BMO Capital Markets from
Criterion Capital Management, where he was a senior analyst, investing in
technology companies across multiple sectors in hardware, since 2007.
"The addition of Alan, Phillip and Ambrish highlight our commitment to
providing a steady flow of the best investment ideas in the Energy and
Technology sectors for North American investors," said Paul Campbell, Co-Head
of Equity Research, BMO Capital Markets.
"Alan's coverage will be a strong complement to our existing coverage of
Canadian oil services and drilling stocks along with mid-cap and
niche-oriented U.S. oil services and drilling companies, and will bring the
size of our North American energy research group team to nine analysts," he
added.
"Ambrish's experience with the semiconductor industry and his insights as an
analyst will greatly serve the highly focused approach we pursue in technology
research," said Jack Blackstock, Co-Head of Equity Research, BMO Capital
Markets.

Alan Laws

Mr. Laws has 10 years of experience as an equity research analyst. Most
recently he was a Senior Research Analyst at Merrill Lynch in Denver where he
focused on the oil services and drilling industry. Mr. Laws has ranked in both
the Brendan Wood International and Institutional Investor surveys, independent
evaluations tracking high-quality research coverage. Mr. Laws earned a
Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Alberta and a Master of
Economics from the University of Calgary and is a CFA Charterholder.

Dr. Ambrish Srivastava

Prior to Criterion Capital Management, Dr. Srivastava was the semiconductor
analyst for BMO Capital Markets and predecessor firm Gerard Klauer Mattison,
as well as ABN AMRO. Previously, Dr. Srivastava worked for management
consulting firm Pittiglio Rabin Todd McGrath, where he led a number of
projects for large technology companies. Dr. Srivastava earned his PhD. in
Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his MBA from Cornell
University'sJohnson School of Management., and his Bachelor of Technology from
Institute of Technology, BHU, in India.

Philip Jungwirth

Joining BMO Capital Markets from Merrill Lynch, Mr. Jungwirth has over three
years experience in equity research including the past year covering Oil
Services with Mr. Laws. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration from California Polytechnic State University and is a CPA and
CFA Charterholder. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Jungwirth served as a
Senior Auditor and Senior Associate in Transaction Services with major public
accounting firms.

About the BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Group

With more than 70 research analysts, the BMO Capital Markets Equity Research
Group now covers more than 900 companies in industries that include Energy,
Business Professional Services; Capital Goods, Financials; Food Consumer;
Healthcare; Media Entertainment; Metals Mining; and Technology
Telecommunications. A complete list of the firm's U.S. and Canadian equity
analyst team and coverage universe can be viewed at:
www.bmocm.com/research/equities.

About BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets is a leading full-service North American financial
services provider, with over 2,400 employees operating in 14 North American
offices and 26 worldwide, offering corporate, institutional and government
clients access to a complete range of investment and corporate banking
products and services. BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group
(NYSE, TSX: BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers
in North America with US$362 billion total assets (Cdn $432 billion) and
37,000 employees as at April 30, 2009.

SOURCE BMO Capital Markets

Kim Hanson, kim.hanson@bmo.com, (416) 867-3996; Kevin Windorf,
kevin.windorf@bmo.com, (212) 885-4111; Internet: www.bmocm.com