NEW YORK/WASHINGTON DC--October 11, 2000-- Home Planners LLC, a division of Hanley-Wood, LLC, has signed a licensing agreement with Hearst Magazines to publish five premier Special Interest magazines: Good Housekeeping Do It Yourself, House Beautiful Home Building, House Beautiful Home Remodeling and Decorating, House Beautiful Kitchens & Baths, and House Beautiful Kitchen and Bath Planner. Home Planners will publish 16 issues per year using the five brand names licensed from Hearst. Distribution of the magazines will be carried out by CoMag Marketing Group, LLC.

"We're honored to be entrusted with these titles," says Patricia Joseph, president of Home Planners. "We will now publish five more of the finest and most recognized brands in the business in the home decorating and remodeling markets."

"House Beautiful and Good Housekeeping publications allow us to broaden our scope in the home-related category," adds Frank Anton, president of Hanley-Wood. In addition to these Hearst titles, Home Planners will continue to publish 12 home plan magazines licensed from Hearst under the House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping and Country Living brands, as well as its own lines of home plan and gardening magazines, and home plan titles licensed from Hachette Filipacchi Magazines. Hanley-Wood also publishes the consumer title, Old-House Journal.

"Home Planners will assume complete publishing responsibility for these titles, including editing, printing, advertising sales and distribution," continued Joseph .The licensing agreement will cover the Special Interest Publications titles for House Beautiful and Good Housekeeping. The primary magazines will continue to be edited and published by Hearst Magazines.

"In partnering with Hanley-Wood, the Hearst Special Interest Publications will strengthen their position in this niche business," says Michael Clinton, senior vice president and chief marketing officer / group publishing director, Hearst Magazines. "Hanley-Wood is the premier publisher of home and building magazines and by joining forces, we have created stronger business in this market."

Hanley-Wood is the leading business-to-business information provider in the residential and commercial construction industry. Founded in 1976, Hanley-Wood grew to $141 million in 2000. Hanley-Wood, LLC is owned by VS&A Communications Partners III, the private equity affiliate of media industry merchant bank Veronis Suhler.

Hanley-Wood publishes leading magazines in the residential and commercial construction industry including BUILDER, BIG BUILDER, IHOUSING, REMODELING, PROSALES, CUSTOM HOME, residential architect, BUILDING PRODUCTS, CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION, TOOLS OF THE TRADE, and the consumer title OLD-HOUSE JOURNAL.

From its Exhibitions Division based in Dallas, Hanley-Wood produces eight trade shows, including World of Concrete, Surfaces and Custom Home. Hanley-Wood Integrated Marketing is based in Minneapolis and the Home Planners Division, based in Tucson, is the leading publisher of house plan magazines. Hanley-Wood's Internet Division has a major Internet presence through its sites including eplans.com, BUILDER ONLINE, REMODELING ONLINE, and its new company, ebuild, the comprehensive guide to building products.

Hearst Magazines is a unit of The Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and the largest publisher of monthly magazines, with 16 US titles and 101 international editions. Of these, Hearst publishes 10 monthly magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, the National Magazine Company Limited.