Oliver Press Partners Urges The Phoenix Companies' Shareholders to Vote for New Independent Nominees

Oliver Press Partners, LLC, a New York based investment management firm whose funds own approximately 5% of The Phoenix Companies, Inc.’s (NYSE:PNX) common stock, today sent the following letter to the 225,000 shareholders of The Phoenix Companies urging shareholders to elect three new and independent director nominees at the Company's 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which has been scheduled for May 2, 2008. Augustus K. Oliver of Oliver Press Partners said, "We continue to believe that The Phoenix Companies has great potential, but that the incumbent Board and management have failed to realize that potential. It is time, in our view, for the Board to focus on the interests of shareholders and policyholders rather than the interests of management. We believe our nominees will provide a new and independent expertise that will help unlock the Company’s potential and serve the interests that need to be served.” Additional information can be found at www.RaiseThePhoenix.com. The full text of the letter follows: March 26, 2008 Dear Fellow Shareholder: We are writing you again regarding the future of The Phoenix Companies, Inc. and how we believe you can best protect your investment in the Company and the security of your policy. No doubt the volume of materials that you are receiving about Phoenix is daunting, but we believe the issues at stake are clear and the corrective action to take is simple. We own approximately 5% of the outstanding Phoenix stock and we are proposing three nominees in opposition to management’s incumbent directors at the Company’s 2008 Annual Meeting. WHAT HAS MANAGEMENT DELIVERED? Stock Price A stock price that is down over 35% since the Company went public more than six years ago and as reflected in the attached graph, is also down relative to the S&P. Financial Performance An operating expense ratio that is more than double most of the Company’s peers1 A return on equity that is more than 50% below most of the Company’s peers Six separate ratings downgrades by leading ratings agencies since the Company went public in 2001. WHAT HAS MANAGEMENT RECEIVED? A compensation structure that, among other things, gave the senior management "performance” bonuses averaging over 210% of base salary in 2007 plus millions of dollars in accumulated pension benefits, deferred compensation, perquisites and other arrangements Compensation arrangements for CEO Dona Young that included $27 million of severance, other compensation, benefits and perquisites as a change-in-control package on top of $12.8 million of accumulated pension benefits and $9.1 million of deferred compensation, for a total change-in-control compensation package of $49 million2 WHO ARE OUR NOMINEES? Two of our nominees, John Clinton and Carl Santillo, have spent their careers in the insurance business. We believe they will bring an independent industry perspective to the Board Our third nominee, Augustus K. Oliver, has spent his career as a lawyer and investment manager focused on financial and strategic transactions Our nominees would constitute only three out of thirteen directors, but they will be new independent and forceful advocates for your interests WHAT DO WE EXPECT WILL RESULT FROM THE ELECTION OF OUR NOMINEES? Management has argued that we offer no new ideas. If that is true, then it appears the incumbent Board and management have failed in putting the ‘old’ ideas to work. Shareholders and policyholders deserve more than ideas — they are entitled to results that serve their best interests. When we notified the Company on January 25 that we intended to nominate our candidates to the Board, we wrote to Dona Young that we believed the Company should sell its asset management business. Just two weeks later the Company announced it would spin off that business. A coincidence? Or an ‘old’ idea that suddenly got new life? Here are a few other ‘old’ ideas we believe the presence of our nominees will revive and turn into action: First, we believe the Board should undertake a full strategic review of all the Company’s businesses with the goal of deploying capital in the most productive manner possible Second, we expect the participation of our nominees will encourage management to take aggressive steps to reduce the Company’s cost structure. Management claims millions in cost reductions over the past few years, yet the Company’s cost structure remains substantially higher and its return on equity correspondingly lower than its industry peers Third, our nominees will bring new perspective needed for a comprehensive review of the options available to the Company to monetize its closed block of insurance Fourth, our nominees will provide new independent oversight of the Company’s executive compensation measures. We urge you to vote with us to support our nominees and to send a message to the Board of Directors that it is time for the best interests of shareholders and policyholders to come before the interests of management. Sincerely yours,       Augustus K. Oliver Clifford Press IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE – VOTE AND RETURN YOUR WHITE PROXY CARD NOW If you have previously returned a Blue proxy card, you can automatically revoke it by signing, dating and returning the enclosed WHITE proxy card in the accompanying envelope. About Oliver Press Partners, LLC Oliver Press Partners, LLC was founded in 2005 by Augustus K. Oliver and Clifford Press and manages several investment funds including, Davenport Partners, L.P., JE Partners, L.P. and Oliver Press Master Fund, L.P. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Oliver Press Partners, LLC ("Oliver Press”) filed a preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC”). Oliver Press will prepare and file with the SEC a definitive proxy statement and may file other solicitation materials. THE PHOENIX COMPANIES, INC.’S SHAREHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE 2008 ANNUAL MEETING WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. THESE MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC’S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. Shareholders may also obtain free copies of the proxy statement and other documents filed by Oliver Press in connection with the annual meeting by directing a request to: MacKenzie Partners, Inc. by calling Toll-Free (800) 322-2885 or by e-mail at phoenixproxy@mackenziepartners.com. OLIVER PRESS PARTICIPANT INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH RULE 14A-12(A)(1)(I) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED, INFORMATION REGARDING THE IDENTITY OF THE PERSONS WHO MAY, UNDER SEC RULES, BE DEEMED TO BE PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION OF SHAREHOLDERS AND THEIR INTERESTS ARE SET FORTH IN THE PRELIMINARY PROXY STATEMENT THAT WAS FILED BY OLIVER PRESS WITH THE SEC. 1 We believe its peers are Manulife Financial, Prudential Financial, Nationwide Financial, Lincoln Financial, Hartford Life, MetLife and Ameriprise Financial. 2 A more complete description of the change-in-control package and its components is contained on page 6 of our proxy statement and its footnotes 1 and 2.