• Partners with NPCI to launch its Platinum Debit Card on the RuPay platform, for NRO customers
• Offers insurance cover of Rs 2,00,000
• Access to lounges at 31 airports across India

The Valence Group has advised Evonik Industries AG on its recently announced acquisition of the Performance Materials business of Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. for an enterprise value of $3.8bn.

The Performance Materials business, part of Air Products’ Materials Technologies division, is a global leader in specialty and coatings additives, such as epoxy curing agents, amine-based polyurethane additives and specialty wetting agents. The combination strengthens and complements Evonik’s product portfolio in terms of end markets, technologies and geographic footprint, and is expected to generate synergies of at least $80m per annum, with incremental tax benefits worth in excess of $500m.

Air Products Performance Materials generated revenue of $1.08bn in 2015 with a corresponding EBITDA of $242m, representing a margin of over 22%. Headquartered in Allentown, PA, the business employs 1,100 globally (of which >20% in R&D), with 50% of its sales in the Americas, 26% in Asia and 24% in Europe, supported by a worldwide network of 11 manufacturing plants and 8 R&D centers. By focusing on high end niche applications, customer specific solutions and truly innovative products, the business has maintained consistently high margins with low capital intensity and strong cash generation.

About Evonik

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2015 more than 33,500 employees generated sales of around €13.5 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about €2.47 billion.

About The Valence Group

The Valence Group is a specialist investment bank offering M&A advisory services exclusively to companies and investors in the chemicals, materials and related sectors. The Valence Group team includes a unique combination of professionals with backgrounds in investment banking and strategic consulting within the chemicals and materials industries, all focused exclusively on providing M&A advisory services to the chemicals and materials sector. The firm’s offices are located in New York and London.

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Global general purpose cards carrying Visa, UnionPay, MasterCard, JCB, Diners Club/Discover, and American Express brands generated 227.08 billion purchase transactions at merchants in 2015, an increase of 16.1% over 2014, according to The Nilson Report, the top trade newsletter covering the card and mobile payment industries. Purchase transactions included all commercial and consumer credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160509005108/en/

Results for global credit, debit and prepaid cards 2015 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Visa cards, which include both Visa Inc. and Visa Europe, accounted for 55.52% of all purchase transactions worldwide. Debit cards with the Visa brand continued to account for the most purchase transactions with a share of 35.50%, followed by Visa credit cards with 20.02%, MasterCard credit cards with 13.14%, MasterCard debit cards with 13.13%, UnionPay credit cards with 6.79%, UnionPay debit cards with 6.00%, and American Express cards with 3.21%. JCB cards with 1.23% overtook Diners Club/Discover cards with 0.98%. Commenting on the results, David Robertson, Publisher of The Nilson Report said, "When consumers worldwide reach into their wallets for a payment card, more than half of the time, they use a Visa card."

UnionPay continued to have the highest percentage increase in purchase transactions. Last year UnionPay credit and debit card purchase transactions at merchants grew by 47.0%. Its year-over-year growth of 9.28 billion transactions topped the 8.09 billion increase for MasterCard but trailed an increase of 13.16 billion for Visa.

Debit and prepaid cards accounted for 54.63% of purchase transactions, up from 54.05% in 2014. Visa purchase transactions were 63.95% debit, up from 63.71%. MasterCard purchase transactions were 49.98% debit, up from 47.86%. UnionPay purchase transactions were 46.90% debit, up from 46.00%.

Purchase volume for goods and services, which excludes cash advances on credit cards and cash withdrawals on debit cards, grew by 18.0% or $3.110 trillion in 2015. UnionPay debit cards were the most popular payment product based on purchase volume, followed by Visa credit cards, which overtook Visa debit cards. The fourth largest was UnionPay credit cards, followed by MasterCard credit cards, MasterCard debit cards, and American Express credit cards.

Credit, debit, and prepaid cards in circulation totaled 10.25 billion at the end of 2015, up 8.2% over year-end 2014. UnionPay accounted for 53.07% of global brand cards in circulation, up from 52.09%, followed by Visa with 28.95%, down from 30.23%, MasterCard with 15.35%, up from 14.96%, American Express with 1.15%, down from 1.18%, JCB with 0.91%, down from 0.93%, and Diners Club/Discover with 0.56%, down from 0.60%.

Of the total cards in circulation, 75.94% were debit, up from 74.61%. Debit cards in circulation grew by 716.3 million compared to a 61.4 million increase for credit cards.

About The Nilson Report

The Nilson Report is the most respected source of news and analysis of the global card and mobile payment industries. The by-subscription-only newsletter provides brand, issuer, acquirer, and vendor statistics not found in any other trade journal, as well as concise vendor, personnel, and product updates. The Nilson Report does not accept paid advertising of any kind. There are no advertisements, no articles written by vendors, no sponsored content. Contact Lori Fulmer at lfulmer@nilsonreport.com for a complete copy of Global Cards 2015, or download it now. The report mentioned here appears in the April 29, 2016 issue of the newsletter.

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The Valence Group has advised INEOS Group AG on its sale of INEOS Styrenics, a producer of high quality expandable polystyrene for the building, construction and packaging industries, to Synthos S.A., one of the largest chemical companies in Poland and the CEE region.

Completion of the transaction is likely to occur in the second half of 2016, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

About INEOS

INEOS is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, speciality chemicals and oil products. It comprises 15 businesses each with a major chemical company heritage. Its production network spans 51 manufacturing facilities in 11 countries throughout the world. INEOS products make a significant contribution to saving life, improving health and enhancing standards of living for people around the world. Its businesses produce the raw materials that are essential in the manufacture of a wide variety of goods: from paints to plastics, textiles to technology, medicines to mobile phones - chemicals manufactured by INEOS enhance almost every aspect of modern life.

About The Valence Group

The Valence Group is a specialist investment bank offering M&A advisory services exclusively to companies and investors in the chemicals, materials and related sectors. The Valence Group team includes a unique combination of professionals with backgrounds in investment banking and strategic consulting within the chemicals and materials industries, all focused exclusively on providing M&A advisory services to the chemicals and materials sector. The firm’s offices are located in New York and London.

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Madison Realty Capital (MRC), a vertically-integrated real estate private equity firm focused on real estate equity and debt investments in the U.S. middle markets, announced the final closing of Madison Realty Capital Debt Fund III LP (“MRC Debt Fund III”), the firm’s third institutional real estate debt investment vehicle.

Adam Tantleff, Managing Principal of MRC, made the announcement.

The discretionary private equity fund raised a total of $695 million in capital commitments, substantially exceeding its original goal of $600 million. MRC sourced capital for the fund from a diverse group of investors, including public pension funds, corporate pension funds, foundations and endowments, family offices, and wealth managers.

“MRC is pleased to announce the final closing of our third fund at a level surpassing our initial target by a considerable margin,” Mr. Tantleff said. “We appreciate the tremendous support which we received from both new and existing investors in the institutional community over the course of this raise. As our firm assets now approach $3 billion we continue to find and exploit market opportunities which exist in the underserved middle markets across asset classes. Our vertically-integrated platform, encompassing both debt and equity expertise, allows us to take advantage of special situation lending opportunities which others may not have the capabilities to act on.”

MRC Debt Fund III originates commercial mortgage loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity interests, and acquires non-performing mortgages. With the ability to leverage and recycle capital, the fund has more than $2.5 billion of transaction capabilities. MRC’s previous debt vehicle, Sullivan Debt Fund, launched in 2012 and raised $350.4 million of equity commitments, also exceeding its $300 million goal. In 2005, MRC launched its initial debt fund which raised in excess of $300 million.

About Madison Realty Capital (MRC)

MRC is a New York-based real estate investment firm that pursues real estate equity and debt investments in the middle market and has $2.7 billion in firm assets. Founded in 2004, MRC has invested in excess of $4.5 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors. MRC’s staff of more than 50 professionals encompasses expertise in originations, acquisitions, underwriting, structuring, closing, servicing, asset management, property management, construction, capital markets, syndications and administration.

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Sodali Inc. and Morrow & Co. LLC jointly announced today that Sodali has acquired Morrow & Co., creating Morrow Sodali Global, the largest independent corporate governance, proxy solicitation, investor relations, capital markets and shareholder services firm in the world. Sodali has been a global leader in such services within Europe, Latin America and other emerging markets, and Morrow & Co has been a trusted provider of these services to many of the largest publicly-traded corporations in the United States for more than 40 years.

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Together, Morrow Sodali will serve more than 600 corporate clients in 30 countries, with aggregate market capitalization in excess of US$5 trillion. The combined company will advise boards of directors and executive management teams on issues related to corporate governance, annual and special shareholder meetings, shareholder activism, strategic communications, initial public offerings and the conduct of multinational equity, debt and merger transactions. Morrow Sodali's clients also include mutual funds and stock exchanges.

“This transaction brings together two great companies with complementary strengths and expertise that will translate into substantial value for our clients," said John Wilcox, Chairman of Morrow Sodali. "Joe Morrow has built a tremendous organization with a reputation for high quality service and loyalty to clients. We look forward to building on his legacy and leveraging our collective experience and resources to serve companies of all types and sizes, wherever they are based or their stock is traded.”

“Our professionals have been working for decades with a singular focus on helping corporations deal with their most complex governance and shareholder challenges,” said Joe Morrow, founder of Morrow & Co. “Sodali, like us, has used a client-first, fully independent approach to become the industry leader in markets outside the U.S. Together, our firms can provide customized solutions for companies dealing with corporate governance, activism and shareholder issues. We are excited to be joining the Sodali team and broadening our offering to new and prospective clients around the world.”

"This transaction is a transformative milestone for both companies and for the industry," said Alvise Recchi, CEO of Morrow Sodali. "Investors are becoming more global and more outspoken and demanding. With our combined reach into all the principal capital markets, Morrow Sodali is positioned to identify, understand and engage with these investors so that we can advise companies on how to address the expectations and interests of all their stakeholders.”

John Wilcox will serve as Chairman of Morrow Sodali. Prior to serving as Chairman of Sodali, Mr. Wilcox served as Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Governance at TIAA-CREF and was previously Chairman of Georgeson & Company.

Alvise Recchi is the CEO of Morrow Sodali. Mr. Recchi is the founding partner of Sodali. Previously, he was CEO and founding shareholder of GSC Proxitalia where his responsibilities included developing the shareholder service business in Europe and Latin America, together with partner Georgeson Inc.

The current Morrow & Co. management and client services teams will remain in place, providing the exceptional service that Morrow clients have come to expect.

Advisors on the transaction included Baker & McKenzie; Seward & Kissel; Berkeley; Altema Consulting and Alpeggiani & Associati for legal and MC Square Capital LLC and Sperry, Mitchell & Company for financial. Morrow Sodali Global LLC is owned by its managers and financial investors Fidia Holding and MC Square Holding.

About Morrow Sodali Global LLC

Morrow Sodali Global LLC, formed by the acquisition of Morrow & Co by Sodali, Inc., is an integrated, global consultancy specializing in corporate governance, investor relations, shareholder services and capital markets transactions. The firm serves more than 600 corporate clients, including many of the world’s largest companies. Morrow Sodali advises boards of directors and senior management on a wide range of issues related to public ownership, including corporate governance, director evaluation, management succession, executive compensation, shareholder engagement and transparency, investor communication, IPOs, bond holder transactions, social policy and sustainability. It provides advice and proxy solicitation services relating to annual and special stockholder meetings including situations involving cross-border or hostile / contested M&A transactions, and shareholder activism. The firm is headquartered in New York City and London, with offices and representatives in Beijing, Geneva, Johannesburg, Madrid, Mexico City, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo and Stamford, Connecticut and Tokyo.

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Barclays and Planixs are collaborating in the creation of an improved global intraday liquidity and funding capability. The latest module has gone live and is providing more timely data and enhanced visibility of intraday positions across Barclays’ key locations.

Barclays is using Realiti^® across its global operations to: perform intraday liquidity management; optimise funding and forecasting activities, and deliver regulatory compliance with the Basel committee’s BCBS248 intraday monitoring regime.

Commenting on the continued engagement with Planixs, Helmut Mannhardt, Barclays’ Global Head of Funding & Liquidity Management, said “The global nature of the Barclays business means we need to have a holistic view of our intraday activities across many currencies, time zones and legal entities with the ability to measure, project and control the full spectrum of intraday liquidity risk. We are pleased to have implemented the latest release of Realiti^® and with the impact it will have on our business and look forward to working with Planixs to introduce enhanced capabilities into our business. We will use Realiti^® to support the evolving BCBS248 regulations and deliver significant benefits across our funding, cash and liquidity management functions”.

“After Barclays conducted a rigorous evaluation exercise, we are extremely pleased to be continuing to develop with Barclays and implement a global solution for their liquidity, intraday monitoring and regulatory reporting requirements,” said Neville Roberts, CEO of Planixs. “Barclays requires a robust solution that will consume significant volumes of data in real-time while delivering intraday insight across the business. With deployments ranging from the largest global banks through to smaller firms, Planixs offers an Intraday Liquidity solution for all financial institutions”.

About Planixs

Planixs is a leading provider of Big Data analytical software as a service (SaaS) solutions and has developed products in a number of domains including Financial Services, Strategic Workforce Planning & Optimisation and Retail. Planixs develops analytics solutions based on data science to deliver high value business solutions through non-invasive technology approaches.

Planixs’ patented Realiti^® solution is the only commercially available real time Intraday Liquidity solution with live implementations in the industry today. It can be deployed rapidly across any IT infrastructure due to its unique architecture, which reduces complexity and enables rapid speed to value. In real-time, Realiti^® consolidates confirmed cash flows from account providers with internally projected activity. This will ensure clients have an accurate, up to date picture of cash balances and end of day projections across complex ranges of settlement accounts and are able to control liquidity usage every minute of every day.

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OT (Oberthur Technologies), a leading global provider of embedded security software products, services and solutions, today announced that it has acquired Xantium Integrated Solutions (Xantium).

Xantium is a renowned South African supplier of cards and personalization services to a wide variety of market segments including Banks, Retailers and Third party payment processors in South Africa and several African countries.

Through this acquisition, OT will grow its footprint in the promising Southern African market and strengthen its base in Johannesburg to address customers across the African continent.

Xantium brings to OT an experienced team which has excelled in providing high levels of service to its broad client base with a focus on quality, speed and flexibility. This has been supported by an innovative approach to card personalization with expertise developed in the fields of card distribution and reporting.

“OT’s ambition is to strengthen our leading position in Africa by addressing the growing demand for payment, authentication and related services through providing best in-class expertise and state-of-the-art products that meet our clients’ demands. Xantium has built up an impressive customer base across the continent and through this acquisition, OT pursues its strategy of acquiring, targeted companies which enhance our global footprint through a strong local presence” said Muzaffar Khokhar, Regional President for Russia, Middle-East and Africa at OT.

ABOUT OBERTHUR TECHNOLOGIES

OT is a world leader in embedded digital security that protects you when you connect, authenticate or pay.

OT is strategically positioned in high growth markets and offers embedded security software solutions for “end-point” devices as well as associated remote management solutions to a huge portfolio of international clients, including banks and financial institutions, mobile operators, authorities and governments, as well as manufacturers of connected objects and equipment.

OT employs over 6 500 employees worldwide, including almost 700 R&D people. With a global footprint of 4 regional secure manufacturing hubs and 39 secure service centers, OT’s international network serves clients in 169 countries. For more information: www.oberthur.com

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HanesBrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) announced that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Hanesbrands Finance Luxembourg S.C.A., a corporate partnership limited by shares (société en commandite par actions) under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, has set the pricing of its offering of €500 million aggregate principal amount of 3.5 percent unsecured notes maturing 2024, unless earlier redeemed. The notes will be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Hanesbrands Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries. This offering is expected to close on June 3, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions.

The aggregate principal amount of notes to be issued in the previously announced offering increased from €450 million to €500 million. Net proceeds from the offering are expected to be used, together with cash on hand and future debt financings, to finance the company’s previously announced acquisitions of Champion Europe and Pacific Brands Group.

The notes and the related guarantees will be offered in the United States to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act and to non-U.S. persons in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act. The offer and sale of the notes and the related guarantees have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements under the Securities Act and any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any of the notes, nor shall there be any sale of the notes in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. This press release is being issued pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135(c) under the Securities Act.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including those regarding the offering of Notes and the anticipated use of proceeds therefrom. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this report and are based on Hanesbrands’ current intent, beliefs, plans and expectations. They involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results, performance or developments to differ materially from those described in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risks identified from time to time in Hanesbrands’ most recent Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including the 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q press releases and other communications. Hanesbrands undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time, other than as required by law.

HanesBrands

HanesBrands, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a socially responsible leading marketer of everyday basic innerwear and activewear apparel in the Americas, Europe and Asia under some of the world’s strongest apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Playtex, DIM, Bali, Maidenform, JMS/Just My Size, L’eggs, Wonderbra, Nur Die/Nur Der, Lovable and Gear for Sports. The company sells T-shirts, bras, panties, shapewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and activewear produced in the company’s low-cost global supply chain.

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Hundreds of global business leaders dedicated to capability and process improvement gathered in Annapolis, Md., May 10-11, for the annual Capability Counts Conference. The CMMI^® Institute, a global leader in the advancement of best practices in people, process, and technology, hosted the conference. Attendees experienced a series of workshops, keynotes, and interactive sessions focused on delivering actionable insights on what it means to be a capable, mature organization.

“It was both exciting and rewarding to see global organizations come together to demonstrate their commitment to capability improvement and creating sustainable competitive advantage,” said Kirk Botula, CEO of CMMI Institute. “We achieved our goal in providing an avenue for professionals at all levels to share their experiences connecting strategy to action and driving high performance and agility.”

Three keynote presentations uncovered the top trends that left attendees buzzing:

“People come to conferences like this to maintain their edge on knowledge and market trends. The only way we can compete is by building capability and staying ahead of the trends. How we work, how we behave, how we develop our products and services—it’s the only thing that matters in a competitive environment,” said Jeff Dalton, program chair and CEO of Broadsword, a software performance improvement company.

The Capability Counts Conference also featured the CMMI Institute’s first-ever Capability Challenge, a webinar-based competition that showcased business success stories. Attendees dubbed AEGIS.net the Capability Challenge Champion for tripling revenue after receiving an organization-wide CMMI maturity level 3 rating and streamlining its project and work management capabilities. As he accepted the award, AEGIS.net President Michael Callihan said, “AEGIS.net uses CMMI as a competitive edge to differentiate ourselves in a crowded marketplace, but more importantly to provide a strong foundation of process to support our clients and our own business growth.”

The 2017 Capability Counts Conference is scheduled to take place May 16-17 in Alexandria, Va. For more information on CMMI Institute conferences, visit http://cmmiinstitute.com/conferences.

About CMMI^® Institute

CMMI Institute (CMMIinstitute.com) is the global leader in the advancement of best practices in people, process, and technology. The Institute provides the tools and support for organizations to benchmark their capabilities and build maturity by comparing their operations to best practices and identifying performance gaps. For over 25 years, thousands of high-performing organizations in a variety of industries, including aerospace, finance, healthcare, software, defense, transportation, and telecommunications, have earned a CMMI maturity level rating and proved they are capable business partners and suppliers. To learn more about how CMMI can help your organization elevate performance, visit CMMIinstitute.com.

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Euronet, India’s leading value added services and payment services company has received in-principle approval from RBI to operate as an operating unit under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an integrated bill payment system which offers interoperable bill payment services to customers, both online as well as through a network of physical agents. The system provides multiple payment modes and instant confirmation of payment.

All existing and proposed entities (both bank and non-bank entities) falling within the scope of BBPS, which include all bill aggregation and/or bill payment services, will have to participate in the system either as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) or as an entity connected through a BBPOU. ‘In-principle’ approvals to operate as BBPOU are conveyed to the applicants that meet all the eligibility requirements, including existing net worth and requisite billing experience as covered under the present scope of Bharat Bill Payment System. Bill payments is a growing business category in India and BBPS is a key step towards the goal of achieving Digital India, an important campaign launched by the Government of India to ensure the country is more digitally empowered.

Himanshu Pujara, Regional Managing Director, Euronet, India and South Asia said “The Reserve Bank of India received 62 applications for authorisation from non-bank entities and 80 requests for approval from banks to operate as a BBPOU. Under the in-principle approval from RBI, Euronet is named a BBPOU.” Himanshu added, “Bill payments across categories is a big business for Euronet both in India and globally. We are excited to be part of this unique eco-system, being created by NPCI and leverage our global payments processing and operations experience primarily around reconciliation and customer dispute management and work with billers across categories and contribute meaningfully to this program.”

Euronet has the largest mobile pre-payment network in the world and works closely with over 200 mobile operators. Euronet has been providing digital bill payment services in India for more than a decade and is integrated with all mobile and DTH operators. Additionally, Euronet India has expanded its products and services portfolio from mobile and DTH to facilitation of digital gift vouchers and other differentiated content of key online domestic and overseas merchants.
 
Being part of Bharat Bill Payment System eco-system; Euronet will have the best advantage of channel and services augmentation in order to emerge as leading contributor to Reserve Bank of India’s vision of having a national bill payment system which will offer bill payment services for recurring payments including utilities (electricity, water, gas), telephone and mobile (pre-paid and post-paid bill payments), DTH, Insurance, education fee payment as well as many other payments.
  
About Euronet
 
Euronet Worldwide is an industry leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. The Company offers payment and transaction processing solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers and individual consumers. These services include comprehensive ATM, POS and card outsourcing services, card issuing and merchant acquiring services, software solutions, cash-based and online-initiated consumer-to-consumer and business-to-business money transfer services, and electronic distribution of prepaid mobile phone time and other prepaid products.
 
Euronet's global payment network is extensive - including 24,761 ATMs, approximately 129,000 EFT POS terminals and a growing portfolio of outsourced debit and credit card services which are under management in 50 countries; card software solutions; a prepaid processing network of approximately 658,000 POS terminals at approximately 301,000 retailer locations in 34 countries; and a global money transfer network of approximately 310,000 locations serving 150 countries. With corporate headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, USA, and 58 worldwide offices, Euronet serves clients in approximately 165 countries. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.euronetworldwide.com

Taiyo Pacific Partners announced today that it has accumulated in excess of 5% in HITACHI MAXELL, LTD. (6810) to become the 2^nd largest shareholder. Hitachi Maxell (the “Company” or “Maxell”) is a global leading provider of micro batteries, camera lens and LED headlamp lens for cars. Taiyo Pacific Partners is a pioneer of friendly engagement investing in Japan and has been proactively working with senior management at its portfolio companies to enhance shareholder value for over 13 years.

Brian K. Heywood, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner of Taiyo Pacific Partners, said, “The demise of cassette tapes and CD-ROMs means you probably haven’t heard the name Hitachi Maxell in a while but you might still remember the iconic 1980s advertisement “Blown Away Guy” that depicted the superior quality of their audio tapes. In fact, Hitachi Maxell may be the perfect representative of how investors often view Japan: ‘you used to make cool stuff but what do you do now?’ At Taiyo, we spend a lot of time looking under the hood of potential investments trying to find overlooked companies like Hitachi Maxell that have technology coded in their DNA and that are likely to surprise everyone on the upside. Over the next several years, we fully expect that President Senzai will lead a revamped company with the development of new and exciting products that only Hitachi Maxell can create. We are confident our investors will be well rewarded for our stake in this new holding.”

Michael A. King, Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner of Taiyo Pacific Partners, said, “Hitachi Maxell has had many successes during its 56-year history, including being the first company to develop alkaline batteries and audio tapes in Japan. Currently, auto-related products such as TPMS battery (micro battery), camera lens unit and LED headlamp lens are the key drivers for growth and profit. We expect the Company to further increase overall profitability and ROE, but the market has not yet appreciated the full potential of Maxell.”

President Yoshihiro Senzai commented, “Hitachi Maxell aims to achieve its vision of ‘Supporting a ‘Smart Life’ and providing ‘Relaxation’ and ‘Enrichment’’. We want to create competitive advantage and achieve long-term growth by focusing on ‘Analogue-Core Technology’, ‘Manufacturing Know-How (‘Monozukuri-ryoku’)’ and ‘Globalization’. We believe we can create value for our customers by developing new products and services that drive growth in our ‘Automotive,’ ‘Home Life & Infrastructure,’ and ‘Health & Beauty Care’ areas. We are pleased to have a long-term investor like Taiyo that deeply understands and supports our core strength in product development as well as our management visions. We very much look forward to our long-term partnership. In this fast-changing world, we are convinced that we can satisfy our customer needs in the future. We will focus on increasing corporate value by maintaining a good relationship with all of our stakeholders.”

Taiyo Pacific Partners is one of the largest engagement funds in Japan investing in publicly-listed Japanese small- and mid-cap companies. The firm has a diverse and synergistic investment team of 20 bi-lingual professionals with over 320 combined years of Asia-related work experience. Since its founding in 2003, Taiyo Pacific Partners has attracted assets from some of the largest and most widely known institutions in the world including public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and leading endowments in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

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BBPOS has announced the launch of WisePad^TM2; advanced technology developed by innovative engineers. The WisePad^TM2 can be used in an integrated or semi-integrated POS environment as well as a stand-alone environment connecting to the payment processor or gateway via GPRS, 3G or Wi-Fi.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160525005100/en/

WisePad^TM2 reads EMV chip card, triple track magnetic stripe card, NFC card and has a secured PIN pad. Compact and lightweight at 3.7oz (105g), it is mobile and flexible. The WisePad^TM2 also has standard over-the-air features allowing both firmware updates and key injection that are essential in increasing operational efficiency as well as having a 2G/3G modem to allow direct connectivity to the network.

WisePad^TM2 complies with all major industrial security standards including PCI PTS v4.1 with SRED; EMV L1 & L2; EMV Contactless L1; VISA payWave; MasterCard PayPass; AMEX ExpressPay; Discover D-PAS; and MasterCard TQM.

WisePad^TM2 will be widely adopted as a mobile solution working with a smart device or as a stand-alone solution. It will also be a good alternative to conventional counter-top POS devices in countries which use Chip and PIN payment systems, such as China and in Europe. The non-NFC versions have been used at a number of key events and by merchants. For example, at the Dubai World Cup, customers had the flexibility and convenience of not waiting in long queues to purchase tickets and, instead, were able to use their debit or credit cards via roaming staff who were using tablets and WisePad^TM.

WisePad^TM2 is the future of mPOS - delivering a cost effective solution with convenient updating and a wide range of applications. Please visit our website for more details.

BBPOS
www.bbpos.com

WisePad^TM2
http://bbpos.com/files/bbproducts/11-WP2_A4_Catalogue_20160523.pdf

About BBPOS

Founded in 2008, BBPOS is an mPOS solution provider headquartered in Hong Kong with regional offices in San Jose, Miami, London, Singapore and Shanghai. The business invented the mobile payment audio jack at a time when smart phones were in their infancy. Today, we are respected as a leading innovator, designer, and manufacturer of end-to-end mobile POS solutions, serving key sectors including mobile merchant, retail, hospitality, delivery, transport and government.

Our world-class engineering team has developed a family of innovative POS devices that deliver quality solutions while implementing the highest security standards. Our products are designed with the flexibility to securely manage any transaction, in any environment, anywhere in the world. In March 2016, mPOS tracker ranked BBPOS 6th among 212 global payment industry players with a high score of 70.

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