Willis Group Holdings Files Shelf Registration Statement.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2004

Willis Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:WSH), the global insurance broker, today announced that it has filed a new shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission which up-dates its existing shelf in order to register all of the approximately 35.8 million shares of the Company's common stock still owned by KKR 1996 Overseas, Limited, an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and Fisher Capital Corp. L.L.C., institutional shareholders of the Company.

The registration statement adds these 35.8 million shares to the universal shelf registration statement the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in April 2003. That document registered certain debt and equity securities of the Company and its subsidiaries, none of which has been sold, and approximately 21.5 million shares of common stock then held by KKR 1996 Overseas, Limited and Fisher Capital Corp. L.L.C, which were subsequently sold.

The registration statement will facilitate the continuation of KKR's orderly disposition of its shares over time at the request of the Company and create additional liquidity in the Company's common stock. The registration statement will also continue to provide flexibility for the Company to take advantage of favorable market conditions in the future to fulfill any financing needs on an expedited basis. At the time any securities are offered for sale, a prospectus supplement will be provided containing specific information about the terms of any such offering.

Willis Group Holdings Limited is a leading global insurance broker, developing and delivering professional insurance, ...