Washington State Investment Board hires new public equity fund managers and approves additional real estate and private equity investments (September 16, 2005) Olympia - The Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) selected Barclays Global Investors (BGI), State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), and Western Asset to manage U.S. Enhanced Indexing investment strategies. The three managers were chosen to improve diversification and control risks while seeking higher returns for state’s Commingled Trust Fund (CTF) for pension assets. As of August 31, 2005 the CTF totaled $48.6 billion with $16 billion invested in U.S. Equities. The amount of the U.S. Enhanced Indexing mandate for these three managers has not yet been determined. In other business, the Board selected two new fund managers for the state’s Deferred Compensation Program (DCP) and the Judicial Retirement Account (JRA). BGI was selected to manage $300 million in a U.S. Core Equity investment mandate, and LSV Asset Management was selected to manage $400 million in an Equity Value option for DCP & JRA participants. The BGI and LSV funds will replace the Fidelity Independence Fund and the Fidelity Equity Income Fund respectively. BGI and LSV give DCP & JRA participants a unique opportunity to invest with major institutional money management firms which have consistently strong performance over the long term. The Board also approved final negotiations for the following four new investments totaling $1.2 billion in the Real Estate and Private Equity programs:

$500 million with Corporate Properties of the Americas, LLC $500 million Evergreen Real Estate Partners, LLC. $100 million with Vestar Capital Partners V, L.P. $100 million with OCM Opportunities Fund VI, L.P.

Finally, the Board elected Patrick McElligott as new Board Chair, Deborah Brookman as new Vice Chair, and reappointed WSIB Executive Director Joe Dear to serve his second three-year term.