NewLead Holdings Regains Compliance with NASDAQ Minimum Bid Price Requirement

NewLead Holdings Ltd.

today announced that it has received written notification from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications department that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirement of $1.00 per share for continued listing set forth in Listing Rule 5450(a)(1), as its common shares achieved a closing bid price of $1.00 or more for 10 consecutive business days. On September 21, 2011, Nasdaq had notified NewLead that it was not in compliance with one of its standards for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market because the closing bid price of its common shares had fallen below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days. The Company had been granted a grace period of 180 calendar days in which to regain compliance. On March 20, 2012, after the expiration of such grace period, NewLead received a written notification from NASDAQ indicating that the Company had not complied with the Rule and that the Company's common shares would be subject to delisting from the NASDAQ Global Select Market.