VALUEACT CAPITAL AGAIN REFUSES TO MEET WITH CHIRON, CONDEMNS ITS USE OF SCARE TACTICS TO WIN SUPPORT FOR NOVARTIS OFFER

ValueAct Capital today announced that it has declined a second request by Chiron Corporation to accept a meeting as part of the company's roadshow aimed at convincing Chiron shareholders to support Novartis AG's $45 per share offer for the 56 percent of Chiron shares it does not already own. In a letter to Howard Pien, chief executive officer of Chiron, responding to Mr. Pien's emailed request that he accept the meeting, ValueAct Capital partner G. Mason Morfit called the planned series of investor presentations "a sham roadshow undertaken for the wrong reasons in support of the wrong cause." Business Wire (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060320005399&newsLang=en)