TWPG Thomas Weisel Prtns Grp (MM)

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG), a global growth-focused investment bank, today announced that Thomas Weisel Asset Management LLC ("TWAM") teamed-up to form an alliance with IdealRatings, Inc., a leading provider of Shariah compliant and socially responsible investment services that provide transparency to portfolio managers to invest in Shariah compliant instruments. The alliance will create funds and separately managed accounts to invest in small and mid-cap U.S. companies while reflecting each client's individual portfolio principals of Shariah compliance.

Through an initial investment by TWAM, IdealRatings, Inc. will manage the process of achieving individually tailored Shariah compliance for TWAM clients, including supplying software, research tools and scholar support. IdealRatings, Inc. and TWAM will target Shariah focused investors, Islamic institutions and international family offices.

"We are very excited to announce this expanded capability of our asset management platform to include Shariah compliant investors. IdealRatings, Inc. has established a proven track record of delivering top-rated technology geared towards screening stocks to be Shariah compliant. This opportunity presents great potential to facilitate Middle Eastern investments in the U.S. equity markets," commented Thomas W. Weisel, Chairman and CEO of Thomas Weisel Partners.

"IdealRatings, Inc. is pleased to team-up with TWAM and bring its complete and accurate Shariah compliant universe and services to the established TWAM platform," said Mohamed Donia, CEO of IdealRatings, Inc.

About Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc.

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. is an investment bank, founded in 1998, focused principally on the growth sectors of the economy. Thomas Weisel Partners generates revenues from three principal sources: investment banking, brokerage and asset management. The investment banking group is comprised of two disciplines: corporate finance and strategic advisory. The brokerage group provides equity and convertible debt securities sales and trading services to institutional investors, and offers brokerage, advisory and cash management services to high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients. The asset management group consists of: private equity, public equity and distribution management. Thomas Weisel Partners is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Baltimore, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Denver, New York, Portland, Silicon Valley, Toronto, London and Zurich. For more information, please visit www.tweisel.com.

About IdealRatings, Inc.

IdealRatings(TM) is a service for financial institutions to drive Alpha generation by identifying Shariah compliant instruments globally and managing the overall Shariah fund management process. IdealRatings is geared for portfolio managers and analysts who need an enterprise-wide view to better manage and operate their Shariah compliant funds. IdealRatings, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.idealratings.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "optimistic," "potential," "future" or "continue," the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations about future events. There are important factors that could cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or other events or circumstances to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the state of the financial markets and the economy, particularly as they relate to the growth sectors that the firm is focused on, Thomas Weisel Partners' ability to implement its strategic initiatives and achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition of Westwind Partners, retain its professionals, as well as other competitive, economic, political, and market conditions and fluctuations, government and industry regulation, risks relating to the acquisition of Westwind Partners, including the effect of the completion of the transaction on the companies' business relationships, operating results and business generally and other factors. Some of the other factors are those that are discussed in Item 1A - "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC thereafter. We do not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any forward-looking statement and you should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We are under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements to conform them to actual results or revised expectations.