  We present JHK images of the young (~20 Myrs) nearby (~48 pc) stars HD 199143
and HD 358623 to search for (sub-)stellar companions around them. The images
were obtained in JHK with the speckle camera SHARP-I in July 2001 and in H with
SofI in Dec 2000, July 2001, and Dec 2001, all at the ESO 3.5m NTT. We present
a companion candidate with a 2 arc sec offset being almost 2 mag fainter than
HD 358623 with proper motion consistent with the known proper motion of the
primary star HD 358623 A. Then, we obtained a spectrum in the H-band (with SofI
at the NTT) of this companion showing that it has spectral type M1-3,
consistent with being a companion of HD 358623 A (K7-M0). Also, a companion
candidate with a 1 arcsecond offset being 2 mag fainter than HD 199143 is
detected. The JHK colors of this candidate are consistent with a spectral type
M0-2. We determine the ages and masses of all four objects from theoretical
tracks and isochrones, all four stars appear to be co-eval with ~20 Myrs. Our
limits for additional detectable but undetected companions are such that we
would have detected all stellar companions with separations > 0.5 arc sec (24
AU at 48 pc).
