• Alpine’s minority shareholders are not getting a fair deal
• Vote FOR the Oasis shareholder proposals at the AGM in Tokyo on June 21

Oasis Management Company Ltd. (“Oasis”) is the manager to funds that beneficially own 9.9% of Alpine Electronics Inc. (TYO:6816) (“Alpine” or the “Company”), making Oasis the Company’s largest shareholder after Alpine’s parent company, Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (TYO:6770) (“Alps”).

On May 9, 2018, Alpine released an announcement opposing Oasis’s shareholder proposals to be voted on at the AGM on June 21. Far from being persuasive, the announcement by Alpine provided further evidence that supports Oasis’s position and proposals, and underscores that Alps and Alpine must revise the Share Exchange Ratio.

In fact, yesterday Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) published its analysis and vote recommendations on the Oasis proposals, and has effectively agreed in principle with Oasis’s position on this matter, and specifically, has recommended voting in favor of Oasis’s dividend proposal and in favor of one of Oasis’s proposed independent directors. We are very pleased to see ISS’s analysis and conclusions, and believe that it should be meaningful and persuasive to shareholders when considering how to vote on these important issues.

Oasis reiterates that Alpine shareholders must vote for the Oasis proposals to protect their shareholder rights.

At the current Share Exchange Ratio proposed by Alps and Alpine, Alpine is being acquired at just 0.8x book value, which is illogical considering that it beat its operating forecasts by 111% this year and is expected to continue to grow strongly. Absolutely no value is being ascribed to Alpine’s excellent business, let alone the full value of the assets. This represents an acquisition price of just 1.8x Adjusted EV/EBITDA.

Setting the Record Straight

(1)Dividend Proposal

Alpine explains in its May 9 announcement that it opposes Oasis’s proposal for an increased dividend, citing its capital policies and a requirement to hold cash. We note that working capital can be financed by working capital lines (which Alpine has but has not used) and debt (which Alpine can easily raise) and does not require a net cash position. Alpine’s arguments for its cash balance are false and insincere:

(2)Dividend Proposal & the Unfair Share Exchange Ratio

Alpine claims that the proposed Share Exchange Ratio is fair; therefore, the proposed dividend is unnecessary. This could not be further from the truth.

To be clear, the Share Exchange Ratio is unfair, and has been determined unfairly:

• The merger was announced with the longest lead time from announcement date to proposed completion date for a merger in recent Japanese history. It appears that this was engineered to avoid including an increase in market price in the valuation. Only Alps and Alpine were aware that after two years of disappointing, lackluster growth, Alpine was about to launch into a period of spectacular high growth. Had investors been aware of these great expectations, then the stock price would have been significantly higher. This would have dramatically increased the Historical Price Ratio and the valuation of Alpine.
• Alps’ disappointing, poor performance in its main business lines has meant that the Share Exchange Ratio has capped Alpine’s stock price at a low value. By contrast, Alpine beat its original operating profit forecasts by 111%. Had Alpine’s stock been able to trade freely, the stock price would be significantly higher today, and Alps would have to pay substantially more to minority shareholders.
• The valuation carried out by SMBC Nikko Securities was fundamentally flawed, and, we believe, biased to result in a low merger ratio. A fair value opinion from BVCJ, an independent valuation expert, prior to the revision upwards in Q3 and the strong beat in Q4, valued Alpine’s shares at JPY4,943 on a DCF basis and between JPY3,516 and JPY6,734 per share on a comparable companies basis. Following the additional revisions upwards we expect the valuation to be significantly higher. Flaws in SMBC Nikko’s valuation include:
  • SMBC Nikko employed the historical market price as part of its valuation, which clearly undervalues Alpine, as the stock price did not have an opportunity to react to the 111% increase in operating profit in FY18 and higher growth in FY19 and FY20.
  • SMBC Nikko selected comparable companies that were trading at low multiples, and that are all their either loss-making or pursing substantial restructuring of their product portfolios. These unfair comparisons reduced the valuation, both in the comparable companies analysis and the Discounted Cash Flow (“DCF”) EBITDA multiple method valuation. If there are no good comparable companies, then this analysis should be excluded.
  • There is limited disclosure around the DCF valuation, but some points to make:
    • The calculations must be repeated in light of Alpine’s continued outperformance and Alps’ underperformance.
    • JPY30 billion was wrongly removed from the valuation.
    • SMBC Nikko employs an inappropriately short projection period with high growth, which is then suddenly reduced to zero; they should use a longer projection period.
    • We question what other assets have been excluded from the DCF valuation.
    • The discount rate of 7.8-8.8% is far too high – and has a large impact on the valuation.

a. Unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio & Revisions to Financial Forecasts

Alpine says it does not need to renegotiate the Share Exchange Ratio in light of its outperformance and significant upward revisions to forecasts, and Alps’ reduced forecasts for next year. This raises serious concerns about the independence and credibility of its management, board of directors, Third-party Committee and SMBC Nikko Securities, its valuation advisor.

Alpine has completely ignored the fact that they did not just revise up guidance twice, but easily beat the twice-revised guidance. Any truly independent Third-party Committee would surely demand a price revision following Alpine beating its original operating profit forecast used in SMBC Nikko’s model by 111%. The Share Exchange Ratio should also be amended because Alps has reduced its operating forecasts for next year by 17%, raising serious questions about the valuation it was given in the SMBC Nikko model, particularly in light of the unexpected slowdown in Alps’ smartphone business.

b. Unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio & “Operating Cash”

Alpine claims that Oasis’s main argument for the unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio is the JPY30 billion of cash that Alpine has arbitrarily allocated to operating expense.

We believe that Alpine is worth in excess of JPY4,000 per share, compared to the current value of JPY1,790. The JPY30 billion translates into just JPY400 per share. To be clear: the JPY30 billion is just part of our argument.

Alpine says that it is a mainstream approach to take necessary operating cash into consideration when conducting a DCF analysis. As we discuss above, we do not disagree, but in terms of magnitude, Alpine is ignoring corporate finance theories and standard practice by allocating far too much to operating cash.

c. Unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio & SMBC Nikko Securities

A fair value opinion from BVCJ, an independent valuation expert, prior to the revision upwards in Q3 and the strong beat in Q4, valued Alpine’s shares at JPY4,943 on a DCF basis and between JPY3,516 and JPY6,734 per share on a comparable companies basis. Following the additional revisions upwards we expect the valuation to be significantly higher. The only way SMBC Nikko could have possibly arrived at their very low Share Exchange Ratio of 0.68 Alps’ shares for every one (1) Alpine share, is as the result of a flawed process and flawed valuation, as seen in our comments on the Historical Price Ratio, Comparable Companies, and DCF analyses.

We have, unfortunately, seen this type of valuation-model gymnastics before from SMBC Nikko, which provided the valuation for the privatization of PanaHome Corp., a listed subsidiary of Panasonic Corp. That valuation analysis included smaller firms that weren’t true peers of PanaHome as “comparable companies,” and a DCF analysis that based the lower end of its range on the assumption that the company’s profitability would decrease substantially, even as analysts at the time were predicting an expansion in profitability. In the end, in response to our engagement and challenges to SMBC Nikko’s analysis, Panasonic raised its buyout offer, in a step toward fairness and justice for minority shareholders. We urge Alps and Alpine to do the same.

Further, as Alpine confirms, SMBC Nikko Securities is in the same group as SMBC Bank, which is Alpine’s main commercial bank. Yet, Alpine continues to claim that SMBC Nikko is independent.

We note that the conditions and amount of SMBC Nikko’s remuneration has not been disclosed. Additionally, their original valuation was exceedingly low. SMBC Nikko’s subsequent re-examination of the Share Exchange Ratio after Alpine’s two revisions upwards appears to have been designed to ensure that no renegotiation was necessary, and to our knowledge no mention has been made of renegotiating based on the strong earnings beat in Q4 which substantially outstripped the revised up forecast.

We know that SMBC is a large lender to Alps, and their treatment of the valuation raises further doubts over SMBC Nikko Securities’ true independence.

d. Unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio & the Perpetual Growth Method

In takeovers, it is common to perform a 5- to 10-year financial forecast until the business is stabilized, then calculate the terminal value using the perpetuity method. In the case of Alpine, with the Company growing quickly, it would be prudent to also use an extended time period until profits stabilize, and then apply a growth rate into perpetuity. In light of the excellent results and dramatic growth in FY18, the valuation should be recalculated for a longer period of time. A 3-year projection is just too short.

We note, without irony, that the Company justifies the 0% growth rate applied in the calculation by saying that SMBC applied the same growth rate to Alps. Somehow, Alpine believes that it is fair that Alps, whose operating profit will substantially decline next year, should have the same growth rate as Alpine, which beat its original forecast by 111%.

e. Unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio & Synergies

Alpine justifies the lack of synergies reflected in the calculation by claiming that the Share Exchange Ratio is at a premium to the stock price. Does Alpine not realize that, as of June 4, 2018, the value of the Share Exchange Ratio was JPY1,803 per share, which is a premium of just 5%? Again, had the stock been allowed to trade freely, rather than being capped by its connection with Alps, Alps would have to pay substantially more even without a premium.

f. Unfairness of the Share Exchange Ratio & “Comparable Companies”

Alpine wants to have its cake and eat it too. On the one hand, it claims that JVC Kenwood, Pioneer and Clarion are all comparable businesses in the Car Navigation System industry. On the other hand, it claims that it needs to maintain a large net cash position because of the industry in which it is in, whereas all three competitors are all net debt. Alpine is clearly cherry-picking what it wants to compare.

Alpine claims that the three comparable companies were selected based on objective criteria and similarities in the business, and in consideration of any circumstances that would impact the price. Yet, SMBC seems to have simply ignored that Clarion was in the process of restructuring its portfolio, JVC Kenwood was loss-making, and Pioneer was loss-making and is expected to continue making losses.

(3) Proposal of Independent Directors

Alpine has opposed Oasis’s proposal to elect Mr. Okada as director by claiming that the corporate governance structure of its current board of directors is “functioning fully.”

As we have demonstrated, there is a severe lack of real corporate governance at Alpine. A functioning corporate governance structure would not have allowed the Company to accept such a low Share Exchange Ratio at the outset, and continue to refuse to renegotiate as Alpine’s fundamentals improve and Alps’ fundamentals deteriorate.

Alpine also says they do not need to elect Mr. Okada because they are nominating a different candidate, Mr. Satoshi Kinoshita. But Mr. Satoshi Kinoshita was already named a future director of the merged Alps Alpine entity on April 26, 2018. We have no doubt that to gain the position in the merged entity, Mr. Kinoshita would have had a substantial number of meetings with management and directors at Alps, the surviving entity, in the lead up to his nomination. Moreover, he is interested and incentivized to be an independent director of the merged company. As a result, we believe that Mr. Kinoshita already has a bias, however small, to Alps over Alpine’s minority shareholders, and recommend that shareholders vote for Mr. Okada as a director.

Alpine also opposed our proposal to nominate Ms. Miyazawa as a director, because they claim that they already have legal expertise on the board with Mr. Naoki Yanagida and Ms. Satoko Hasegawa as directors and audit committee members. As with Mr. Kinoshita, Ms. Hasegawa has also been chosen to be an outside director of the merged Alps Alpine entity, and as a result, may have a bias, however small, to her new future employers over Alpine’s current minority shareholders.

Both Mr. Yanagida and Ms. Hasegawa voted for the merger and accepted a low valuation from Alps. Later, they both voted in favor of NOT renegotiating the price with Alps after forecasts were revised up twice. Today, as far as we are aware, they have still not pushed Alpine to renegotiate – even in light of actual operating profit beating the revised forecast and exceeding the original forecast in the valuation by 111%, while Alps has reduced their forecasted operating profit for next year by 17%. It is clear that minority shareholders cannot rely on either of these directors to protect their rights. We recommend that shareholders vote for Ms. Miyazawa as a director and audit committee member.

(4) The Lack of Independence of Mr. Hideo Kojima

Alpine also attempts to justify the position of Mr. Hideo Kojima -- a member of Alpine’s audit and supervisory committee, an outside director, and a member of the Third-party committee entrusted with ensuring that minority shareholders are protected in the proposed merger -- as independent, even as they indicate his deep history working with Alps.

Further, until now Alpine has neglected to disclose that not only was he responsible for the accounting audits of Alps, but also of Alps Logistics, another listed subsidiary of Alps. He was, as Alpine now points out, the responsible auditor for Alps from 2001 to 2007, but note that Alpine did not comment on his other position at Alps Logistics. Alpine tries to obfuscate this relationship by claiming that his involvement with this transaction is more than 10 years after he left that position. Alpine conveniently forgot to mention that he joined Alpine in 2011, just four years later, and has held a role at Alpine since then. As an auditor and board member at Alpine, whose board contains Alps employees, it is far more likely that Mr. Kojima has strengthened his relationships with Alps over the last seven years, as opposed to becoming more independent.

Minority shareholders must vote for a candidate that has no existing relationship to Alps or Alpine and should vote for Mr. Okada and Ms. Miyazawa, who can be trusted to be truly independent and protect minority shareholder rights.

Concluding Thoughts

At the current ratio, Alpine, which beat its operating forecasts by 111% this year and is expected to continue to grow, is being acquired at just 0.8x book value. No value is being attributed to Alpine’s excellent business, let alone the full value of the assets. This represents an acquisition price of just over 3x EV/EBITDA!

• Shareholders were only made aware of Alpine’s excellent prospects once the merger was announced, and Alpine has continued to exceed these expectations. Had the stock not been capped by Alps’ poor stock price performance, Alpine’s stock price would likely be much, much higher.
• Alpine beat the forecasted operating profit used in the valuation by 111%, while Alps has reduced its forecast for FY19. Yet, Alpine has yet to even ask for a renegotiation of the Share Exchange Ratio.
• The valuations and process raise suspicions over the true independence of the valuation agent, the outside directors, and the Third-party Committee, who we now know all have reasons for more loyalty to Alps than Alpine.

Quite simply, Alpine’s minority shareholder would be far better off if the proposed transaction failed and Alpine continued as an independent company, or if an alternative buyer bought out the company at a fair price.

VOTE FOR THE OASIS PROPOSALS

PROTECT ALPINE

***

Shareholders are encouraged to visit www.protectalpine.com to sign up for updates and learn how you can help. Shareholders may also contact us at protectalpine@oasiscm.com, or contact our Japanese legal counsel at Legal@protectalpine.com.

For media and all other inquiries, please contact thall@hk.oasiscm.com.

Oasis Management Company Ltd. (“Oasis”) is manager to funds that beneficially own 9.9% of Alpine Electronics Inc. (TYO:6816) (“Alpine” or the “Company”), making Oasis the Company’s largest shareholder after Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (TYO:6770) (“Alps”).

Oasis Management Company Ltd. manages private investment funds focused on opportunities in a wide array of asset classes across countries and sectors. Oasis was founded in 2002 by Seth H. Fischer, who leads the firm as its Chief Investment Officer. More information about Oasis is available atoasiscm.com. Oasis has adopted the Japan FSA’s “Principles of Responsible Institutional Investors” (a/k/a Japan Stewardship Code) and in line with those principles, Oasis monitors and engages with our investee companies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180604005799/en/

OutSystems, the global leader in low-code rapid application development, today announced it has raised $360 million in an investment round from KKR and Goldman Sachs. The funding values the company at well over $1 billion, and the proceeds will be used to accelerate business expansion and for R&D in new advancements in software automation.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180605005431/en/

OutSystems Raises $360 Million in an Investment from KKR and Goldman Sachs (Photo: Business Wire)

The OutSystems low-code platform enables customers to achieve significant efficiency gains in building and supporting enterprise-grade applications. By leveraging automation, artificial intelligence, and deep technology integrations, software developers and business users can build applications through an intuitive, visual interface, rather than traditional coding. Customers experience strong cost savings and create competitive advantages by developing custom applications in days and weeks versus months and years, despite a shortage of skilled developers.

Companies such as Toyota, Logitech, Deloitte, Ricoh, Schneider Electric, and GM Financial use the OutSystems low-code platform to rapidly develop custom applications that digitalize and differentiate their business. The platform can support a wide range of enterprise applications: from large, mission-critical solutions that replace aging legacy ERP/CRM systems, to mobile and web apps for internal processes, to customer experiences like online banking, account enrollment, and customer self-service.

OutSystems is widely regarded as the leader in its market due to the breadth and depth of the platform. The company serves thousands of customers globally and is recognized as one of the fastest-growing technology companies with revenues well above $100 million and growing at more than 70 percent annually.

“We’re attacking one of the biggest problems facing businesses today -- the lack of speed and agility of traditional software development that is hindering digital transformation initiatives around the world,” said Paulo Rosado, OutSystems CEO. “We see companies struggle with this every day and we’re thrilled to be partnering with KKR and Goldman Sachs to solve this problem by bringing more innovation to our customers and re-defining the future of enterprise software development.”

“We believe we are in the early innings of what will be an extended period of significant growth in the low-code application development market, and we are very excited to be backing a category leader like OutSystems,” said Stephen Shanley, Director at KKR. Lucian Schoenefelder, Member at KKR, added: “OutSystems is a perfect fit with KKR’s strategy of supporting best-in-class technology entrepreneurs in their ambition to build global category leaders in large markets. We are very excited to partner with Paulo and his team and will make KKR’s global platform available to support the OutSystems expansion plans.”

“We found that we could point to every major industry sector and find excited and loyal OutSystems customers who have developed unique solutions and are adopting the platform across their organization,” said Kirk Lepke, Vice President at Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing. Christian Resch, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing, added: “OutSystems is directly in line with what we seek for new investments: Support of exceptional founders and management teams in innovative businesses that offer a significant opportunity to create long-term value. We are very much looking forward to backing Paulo and the team to further expand this unique business.”

“The market potential we see with OutSystems is incredible,” said Mike Pehl, OutSystems board member and Managing Partner at Guidepost Growth Equity. “With customers in over 50 countries and nearly 250 partner integrators developing on the platform, it’s clear the low-code market has reached a tipping point, and OutSystems is the clear leader.”

“Founded in 2001, OutSystems has always had a strong vision for their platform and a strong company culture that promotes quality and transparency,” said Joaquim Sérvulo Rodrigues, OutSystems Board Member and Partner at Armilar Venture Partners. “Today, their technology is very advanced, creating a high barrier to entry for potential competitors. OutSystems has created a whole new market.”

“This funding comes on the heels of a record-breaking year for the company,” said Rosado. “OutSystems stands strong as the pioneer in low-code development. Having global investors the caliber of KKR and Goldman Sachs that share our vision for the future of revolutionizing software development sets us on a path of tremendous growth and innovation that will fundamentally change how organizations build software.”

KKR's investment was made through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund.

About OutSystems

Thousands of customers worldwide trust OutSystems, the number one low-code platform for rapid application development. Engineers with an obsessive attention to detail crafted every aspect of the OutSystems platform to help organizations build enterprise-grade apps and transform their business faster. OutSystems is the only solution that combines the power of low-code development with advanced mobile capabilities, enabling visual development of entire applications that easily integrate with existing systems. Explore careers at OutSystems, named a Top Cloud Employer by Forbes three years in a row. Visit us at www.outsystems.com, or follow us on Twitter @OutSystems or LinkedIn.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic manager partnerships that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing

Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing ("PCI") is Goldman Sachs' investment platform dedicated to providing long term capital to growth and middle-market companies throughout the US, Europe and Israel. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.

About Guidepost Growth Equity

Guidepost Growth Equity is a leading growth equity firm that partners with technology companies offering innovative solutions in large, dynamic markets including tech-enabled services, communications and infrastructure, and data and information services. Prior investments include Dyn (sold to Oracle), Jive Communications (sold to LogMeIn), ProtoLabs (IPO on NYSE), and WP Engine. Guidepost Growth Equity provides the flexible capital, operational support and strategic guidance necessary to support the continued success of growth-stage businesses.

About Armilar Venture Partners

Armilar Venture Partners manages more than 200 million euros of assets. Their worldwide companies provide innovative products and services that are improving our world, the way we live, and the way we do business. Since 2000, Armilar invested in more than 40 seed and early-stage companies and currently has four investment funds, each managed with a hands-on approach.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180605005431/en/

Four years after becoming a member firm of Andersen Global, Paris-based STCPartners has officially adopted the Andersen trademark in France debuting as Andersen Tax & Legal. The firm was one of the very first member firms of the global organization that helped drive the initial expansion into Europe in late 2013 and is led by Managing Partners Hervé-Antoine Couderc, Delphine Bariani and Pierre Bouley. Andersen Tax & Legal in France is a law firm specializing in private equity and offering tailor-made and innovative services to its clients.

“Many of us share a common history and we felt a natural closeness beginning with our very first exchanges. Working with likeminded individuals is essential for our firm and for our clients, who will thus be able to benefit from seamless and consistent services of the highest quality in numerous economic centers around the world,” remarked Hervé-Antoine Couderc.

Delphine Bariani commented, “We, as well as our teams, are mobilized for the success of this launch, and are aware of the tremendous opportunity we have to be able to participate in the development of a unique law firm in France that will be able to respond better than ever to our clients’ expectations and needs.” Delphine Bariani is on the Global Board of Directors and Partner Pierre Bouley is a member of the Global Advisory Council.

Founded in 2005, the firm will continue to provide legal and tax advice to wealthy families and their businesses in France, Europe, and globally. Andersen Tax & Legal also advises private and family groups, their shareholders and executives as well as the management teams of major company groups, both listed and private, with diverse shareholding structures. Key sectors that the firm serves include agriculture and consumer goods distribution, energy, family businesses, financial services, pharmaceutical, communications, telecom, private equity, real estate and transportation.

“I have close professional ties with our team in Paris, and I value their innovative business insight and leading cross-border capabilities. We share the core values of stewardship, independence, and transparency as well as a mutual vision for creating an outstanding, diverse team that provides best-in-class services,” added Global Chairman and Andersen Tax LLC CEO, Mark Vorsatz. “A strong presence in the European region is of utmost importance to our firm, and the Andersen name officially launching in France is an indicator of our growth in the market.”

Andersen Global is an international association of legally separate, independent member firms comprised of tax and legal professionals around the world. Established in 2013 by U.S. member firm Andersen Tax LLC, Andersen Global now has more than 3,000 professionals worldwide and a presence in over 103 locations through its member firms and collaborating firms.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180605005075/en/

• ‘Axis Aha!’ is powered by cutting-edge algorithms leveraging concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning
• It is capable of crafting intelligent micro-conversations to guide, execute, suggest, remind and simplify basic banking for the customers
• The chatbot resides on a comprehensive banking knowledge base along with self-learning algorithms continuously improve the experience

• ‘Axis Aha!’ currently provides the following capabilities – funds transfer, bill payment, recharge, block card, manage debit card
• Upcoming features include ordering cheque book, card pin set /reset, card limit change, download e-statement/loan statement, apply for loans, cards, etc.
• The chatbot is fast; customers can straight away state their needs and it will be serviced without getting lost in the sea of navigation panels
• It also can answer and guide customers with their queries regarding Axis Bank products and services, address grievances, apart from tracking application status as well as reporting fraud

As part of its Innovation Hub programme, to amplify its investment strategy, Groupe ADP (Paris:ADP) has just invested in the White Star Capital fund. This subscription is done as part of a $180-million round of financing. Based in New York, Montreal, London and Paris, the fund has invested in more than 20 innovative companies since its inception in 2015.

"Our investment strategy, directly in start-ups and through external funds, has proven its relevance as a powerful tool for transforming and supporting innovative projects. Almost a year after the launch of the Innovation Hub initiative in March 2017, our overall investment capacity has now reached 40 million euros and extends our initiative to look forward and cover all steps of the innovation process. Our hybrid model is unique in our industry, so that other airport players, among the international leaders, are now showing a strong appetite for this model." said Edward Arkwright, Deputy CEO.

Groupe ADP's Innovation Hub: an effective investment model based on two complementary pillars

This new venture is at the heart of an investment model based on two pillars:

• an internal fund for direct minority holdings in start-ups ;
• and subscriptions to external funds : This approach also gives Groupe ADP the opportunity to explore co-investment opportunities with funds and identify synergies with other large corporate partners.

Three investments in external funds have already been made: X-Ange, Elaia Delta and Cathay Innovation. This new system allows Groupe ADP to broaden the scope of its technological awareness and to benefit from complementary expertise in targeting start-ups that could become strategic partners of the group.

An investment fully complementary to previous deals

This investment is complementary geographically because White Star Capital is focused on Northern Europe, the East Coast of the United States and Japan, while Cathay Innovation looks more towards the West Coast of the United States and China, and Elaia makes the majority of its investments in France.

Moreover, from a sectoral point of view, White Star Capital has made retail disruption a priority growth area, which is one of the priorities of the Innovation Hub programme as well as one of the strategic objectives of Groupe ADP.

Finally, each fund is also complementary in terms of the maturity of the companies they target. While X-Ange and Elaia invest more at an early stage, and Cathay Innovation supports more mature start-ups, White Star provides support to mid-stage entrepreneurs to accelerate their international rollout.

Groupe ADP will have a seat on the White Star Capital fund board, which will enable it to play a full part in the fund's decisions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607005736/en/

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502) (“Takeda”) announces that it has today entered into a term loan credit agreement for an aggregate principal amount of up to 7.5 billion USD with leading global financial institutions including J.P. Morgan Chase Bank N.A., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (the “Term Loan Credit Agreement”). The majority of the funding has been committed by Japanese institutions.

The proceeds from the Term Loan Credit Agreement, which was heavily subscribed and is the largest syndication in Asia to date, will be used to fund a portion of Takeda’s cash consideration for its recommended offer for Shire plc, while also reducing commitments under the bridge facility agreement entered in connection with the proposed acquisition on May 8, 2018 (the “Bridge Credit Agreement”). The transaction with Shire plc is subject to shareholder votes from Takeda and Shire plc shareholders.

“We are pleased to have secured the term loan facility with backing from leading global financial institutions, which enables us to successfully de-risk a substantial portion of our bridge facility as we continue to make progress toward completing our proposed acquisition of Shire,” said Costa Saroukos, chief financial officer of Takeda. “This agreement supports our intention to maintain our well-established dividend policy and investment grade rating following closing of the transaction. The heavy demand to participate in the agreement – exceeding our financing need of 7.5 billion USD – reflects a strong vote-of-confidence from these leading global financial institutions in Takeda and our strategy to continue generating value for our investors.”

In connection with entering into the Term Loan Credit Agreement, certain technical and conforming amendments have been made to the Bridge Credit Agreement. In accordance with Rule 26 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), copies of the Term Loan Credit Agreement and the amended Bridge Credit Agreement have been published on Takeda’s website and are available to view at www.takeda.com/investors/offer-for-shire.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502) is a global, research and development-driven pharmaceutical company committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to patients by translating science into life-changing medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on oncology, gastroenterology and neuroscience therapeutic areas plus vaccines. Takeda conducts R&D both internally and with partners to stay at the leading edge of innovation. Innovative products, especially in oncology and gastroenterology, as well as Takeda’s presence in emerging markets, are currently fueling the growth of Takeda. Approximately 30,000 Takeda employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients, working with Takeda’s partners in health care in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/.

Important Notice

This announcement is not intended to, and does not, constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of an offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities whether pursuant to this announcement or otherwise.

The distribution of this announcement in jurisdictions outside the United Kingdom or Japan may be restricted by law or regulation and therefore any person who comes into possession of this announcement should inform themselves about, and comply with, such restrictions. Any failure to comply with such restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws or regulations of any such relevant jurisdiction.

Publication on Website

In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the Code, a copy of this announcement will be made available (subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in restricted jurisdictions) on Takeda’s website at www.takeda.com/investors/offer-for-shire by no later than 12 noon (London time) on 11 June 2018. The content of the website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement.

Disclosure requirements of the Code

Under Rule 8.3(a) of the Code, any person who is interested in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities of an offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror (being any offeror other than an offeror in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is, or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position Disclosure following the commencement of the offer period and, if later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. An Opening Position Disclosure must contain details of the person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s). An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the 10th business day following the commencement of the offer period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the 10th business day following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. Relevant persons who deal in the relevant securities of the offeree company or of a securities exchange offeror prior to the deadline for making an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a Dealing Disclosure.

Under Rule 8.3(b) of the Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror must make a Dealing Disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror. A Dealing Disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s), save to the extent that these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8. A Dealing Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the business day following the date of the relevant dealing.

If two or more persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding, whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in relevant securities of an offeree company or a securities exchange offeror, they will be deemed to be a single person for the purpose of Rule 8.3.

Opening Position Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company and by any offeror and Dealing Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company, by any offeror and by any persons acting in concert with any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4).

Details of the offeree and offeror companies in respect of whose relevant securities Opening Position Disclosures and Dealing Disclosures must be made can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk, including details of the number of relevant securities in issue, when the offer period commenced and when any offeror was first identified. You should contact the Panel's Market Surveillance Unit on +44 (0)20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a Dealing Disclosure.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180607006390/en/

Enrico Krog Iversen, former CEO of the industry-leading collaborative robot pioneer, Universal Robots, along with the Danish Growth Fund, is addressing the next challenge in automation with the merger of three innovative end-of-arm tooling companies to facilitate the ongoing growth of collaborative robotics; an industry expected to reach $8.5 billion by 2025.

The new company combines U.S.-based Perception Robotics, Hungary-based OptoForce, and Denmark-based On Robot to become OnRobot, which will drive innovation and ease-of-use for robotic end-of-arm tooling. OnRobot's headquarters will be located in Denmark under the management of Enrico Krog Iversen, and the three entities will continue their individual operations and development as well. In addition, OnRobot's global network of distributors will have access to local sales support, technical assistance and product training from the company's regional offices in Germany, China, U.S., Malaysia, and Hungary. More offices to come in 2018.

“The aim is to build a world-leading organization in development and production of end-of-arm tooling. Through further acquisitions and collaborations, we expect to reach a revenue exceeding one hundred million dollars in a few years,” says Iversen and continues: “Safe, cost-effective, and versatile cobots are becoming increasingly common because they offer sophisticated and intuitive programming that enables them to be easily deployed and redeployed. Easy-to-integrate end-of-arm tooling, such as grippers and sensors, become vital elements in adapting these powerful automation tools for a wide range of applications.”

In 2015 Enrico Krog Iversen and the Danish Growth Fund sold the Danish cobot pioneer company Universal Robots to U.S.-based Teradyne for $285 million. With their new venture, the two investors now further strengthen Denmark’s global position in the robotics field.

“In recent years Denmark has successfully established itself as a global hub for robotic technologies. Universal Robots was a pioneer, and since then many more strong and innovative companies have been formed with roots in Odense, Denmark. The new OnRobot has the potential to become not only a world-leading company, but also a catalyst for further development of the Danish robotics cluster. We are pleased to promote this trend through our investments and invite both companies and investors from around the world to come join us,” says Christian Motzfeldt, CEO of the Danish Growth Fund.

Collaborative robots, which work safely alongside humans in applications such as packaging, quality testing, material handling, machine tending, assembly and welding, currently represent 3% of global robot sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics, but the share is expected to rise to 34% of a $25 billion market by 2025.

“This growth will most definitely depend on cobots being used in more applications,” Iversen added. “Their small footprint and ability to work safely alongside humans make them ideal for small and medium-sized manufacturers who need to compete globally. Cobots are also increasingly integrated into very large manufacturers such as automotive plants, where they are taking over processes that can’t be automated using traditional robotics. As the types of cobot applications expand, so does the need for new tooling that can be quickly and easily integrated into the cobot’s user interface. The new OnRobot is championing a current mega trend in the field of automation. Combining the unique capabilities of these end-of-arm technologies under one umbrella company that is led by some of the smartest minds in the robotics industry will make them even easier to implement and program. By the way, the new OnRobot is currently looking to add employees in R&D,” says Iversen.

Companies Chosen for Synergies, Ease of Integration, Vision

The three companies that will form the new OnRobot were chosen because of their synergistic end-of-arm technologies, the ability of these technologies to easily integrate to provide improved support and the long-term vision and capabilities of each company’s founders.

• On Robot, founded in 2015, provides plug-and-play electric grippers — RG2 and RG6 — that mount directly on the robot arm, are highly flexible and are simple enough to be programmed and operated from the same interface as the robot without the need of engineers.
• OptoForce, founded in 2012,provides force/torque sensors that bring the sense of touch to industrial robots so that they can automate tasks that would otherwise require the dexterity of the human hand.
• Perception Robotics, founded in 2012 and based in Los Angeles, develops bio-inspired robot grippers: 1) a gecko-inspired gripper for handling large, flat objects and 2) a tactile gripper with compliant rubber tactile sensors (“skin”) to give robots a sense of touch. Its first grippers will be available this year.

At the Automatica trade show in June, OnRobot will introduce the first fully integrated products with combined user interfaces that simplify both the development and use of the cobots.

About OnRobot

OnRobot, based in Odense, Denmark, offers technologies — both hardware and software — used in end-of-arm tooling, mainly for collaborative robots (cobots). OnRobot is based on On Robot, which was founded in 2015 by Bilge Jacob Christiansen and Ebbe Overgaard Fuglsang. OnRobot integrates grippers, sensors and other cobot equipment to facilitate the use of the technology in applications such as packaging, quality testing, material handling, machine tending, assembly and welding, and is planning to acquire and manufacture additional technologies with worldwide support. In addition to its headquarters in Denmark, OnRobot now has consolidated sales offices in Germany, China, U.S., Malaysia and Hungary. For more information, visit www.onrobot.com.

About the Danish Growth Fund

The Danish Growth Fund is a state investment fund that contributes to the creation of new companies by providing capital and expertise. Since 1992, the Danish Growth Fund has together with private investors co-financed growth in more than 7.300 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than DKK 22.5 billion. The Danish Growth Fund invests equity and provides loans and guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with private partners and Danish financial institutions. The Danish Growth Fund annually invests directly in approximately 10 companies.

For more information, visit www.vf.dk

• Get photos via this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j2dxmzrinjm98ij/AACjkK0R5GVA2QGVLgjYOptea?dl=0

NOTE for Editors: The new name – OnRobot – is part of the new overall branding. Please note it is now one word, without a space.

NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180611005396/en/

• Level of Income

• Existing Liabilities

• Credit Score

• Documentation

• Age

The Poseidon Foundation (“Poseidon”) is pleased to announce the timetable for its year-long public fundraising phase which encompasses three token sales ahead of the platform’s official launch in August 2019. The first token sale will launch on 16^th June 2018 and will last six weeks ending 29^th July 2018. The second token sale will be launched on 3^rd November 2018 lasting four weeks and the third token sale will launch on 4^th May 2019 for two weeks.

Poseidon is a non-profit which uses blockchain technology to integrate carbon markets into transactions at the point-of-sale, giving individuals and organisations the opportunity to rebalance their climate impact by supporting forestry conservation projects around the world when they buy and sell everyday items.

During the three sales, 18 billion OCEAN tokens will be available for purchase. OCEAN is a single utility token that provides access to carbon credits through the Poseidon platform. Using OCEAN tokens, platform users will be able to offset the unavoidable climate impact of their businesses and everyday lives. During the first raise, OCEAN will be available for purchase at a 35% discount against the token’s internal value, until 29^th July using Stellar Lumens, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.

The internal value of OCEAN will be derived from an external and independent benchmark of the total value of the global carbon market, which is currently estimated to be approximately €8.64 billion. 36 billion OCEAN tokens will be issued, each with a value of €0.24. Contributors to the token sale will enjoy discounts against the launch value, as outlined in the schedule below.

As a non-profit foundation, Poseidon will use 80% of the funds raised from token sale to purchase carbon credits for the platform. The remaining funds will be used to cover operational costs, including further development of the platform, R&D and the onboarding of new pilot projects with retailers. Should contributors prefer, there will be an option to make charitable donations to Poseidon. In the case of charitable donations, 100% of the funds committed will be used to purchase carbon credits and directly support forest conservation projects in the rainforest. Laszlo Giricz, founder and CEO of Poseidon, said, “The first token sale will be the culmination of months of hard work by our talented team. Our platform is the first of its kind to truly put consumers in control of their own carbon footprint when buying anything from a cup of coffee to a litre of fuel.”

“We are already operational at Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop in London where we have protected over 1,500 trees in just over a month. This represents a small example of the positive environmental impact the platform could deliver across multiple retailers.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The three OCEAN token sales will be scheduled as follows:

About Poseidon
 

Poseidon is a non-profit foundation that empowers individuals to rebalance the climate impact of their lifestyle choices with a breakthrough approach. Using blockchain technology, it integrates carbon markets into everyday retail transactions at the point-of-sale and allows users to track the positive impact of their transactions on individual forest conservation projects. This will transform people’s relationship to their carbon footprint, encourage vital behavior change and unlock the considerable growth potential of carbon markets to effectively address climate change.

To find out more about Poseidon - https://poseidon.eco/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180612005207/en/

Left to Right: Mr. Sudhir Singh, Director sales and marketing, Marg ERP, Mr. Thakur Anoop Singh, CMD, Marg ERP, Mr. Pankaj Gangill, GM and National Head of self employed segment ICICI Bank, Mr Mahendra Singh, MD, Marg ERP

• Brings accounting and banking solutions for MSMEs on a single platform
• Also enables automated reconciliation service

• Control over fund flow without any additional efforts: With this integration, business owners can keep track of transactions flowing in and out of their bank accounts on Marg ERP. Businesses can eliminate data entry and manual errors of accounting, as transactions are directly fetched from the bank. Real-time bank balance and transaction status visibility on accounting platform will help business owners to take important decisions instantly.
• Automates Bank reconciliation: All bank transactions can be fetched automatically into Marg ERP, after which Marg ERP will automatically reconcile the bank statement with entries in the accounting ledger saving its user a lot of time. This is again a unique feature of this alliance that auto bank reconciliation will now be available to SMEs in India.
• Provide multiple payment options: The integrated payment solutions offer multiple payment options like NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS fund transfer with instant status update of the transaction with Bank reference number on Marg ERP.
• Secure and safe: Marg and ICICI Bank have implemented multiple layer’s security mechanism on the integrated platform, so users can do banking with complete peace.
• Pay directly from Marg ERP: Users do not have to toggle between their accounting and banking applications to make business payments anymore. ICICI Bank’s current account holders can simply log in to Marg ERP, select the appropriate bills, and make payments through their connected ICICI Bank account in just a few clicks.
• One dashboard for payments made: Businesses can continue to approve their payments in ICICI Bank's Corporate Internet Banking (CIB) portal and see every payment status updated automatically on the Marg ERP platform.
• Access to ICICI Bank internet based cheque writing facility from MARG ERP: It is a completely secured and fraud-proof cheque system and will help in the elimination of cheque fraud and keeping accurate books of accounts. The authorised signatory can approve cheque request remotely ensuring that the customer is always in control of their business.
• Scheduling Payments: With a single click, customers can schedule their future payments from within the Marg ERP platform. The payments will get processed on the assigned time automatically.
• Auto fetch bank balance and statements: Customers can also check their account balance 24X7 with a single click and view their bank statements within Marg ERP.
• Apply business loans from MARG ERP: With this alliance, ICICI Bank current account holders will now be able to apply for working capital loans from the Marg ERP software. Common customers can make the request while looking at their cash flow statement or while making payments to vendors in Marg ERP, when they can see that there is need for a loan.
• Pricing and availability: The Marg ERP-ICICI Bank integration comes at no additional cost to the customer. Marg will also offer 10 percent cash back on purchase of its products for ICICI bank current account customers.

• http://www.margcompusoft.com/marg-icici-collaboration.html

• https://www.icicibank.com/business-banking/cash-management-services/alliance-strategic-partner.page?#toptitle

Vantiv, now Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE:WP) and IDEMIA are spearheading the first North American pilot of the MOTION CODE™ debit card, a dynamic payment card that aids in the fight against card-not-present (CNP) fraud and against hackers to offset the repercussions banks face as a result of data breaches.

The average cost of a data breach in the U.S. in 2017 was $7.3 million (1). In a 44 percent increase over 2016, there were 1,579 data breaches in the U.S. in 2017, 302 of which resulted in the exposure of full credit and debit card numbers (2).

The MOTION CODE™ payment card replaces the static CVV code printed on the back of cards today with an e-paper mini-screen, which displays a dynamic security code that automatically changes at regular intervals. Because a MOTION CODE™ debit card constantly changes its security code, stolen data is rendered useless to bad actors within hours, if not minutes.

“Worldpay prides itself on being at the forefront of fraud prevention in the U.S.,” said Bill Hampton, senior leader and head of issuer solutions at Worldpay. “In our pursuit to eliminate fraud, we continue to champion innovation in a market that typically lags behind the rest of the world. By partnering with IDEMIA to deliver MOTION CODE™ in the U.S., we will continue to offer best-in-class security to financial institutions and their cardholders. This card provides a complete end-to-end solution for our issuers and their cardholders everywhere.”

Worldpay is the first payment processor in the U.S. to incorporate this technology into their payment-processing platform making it a seamless integration for financial institutions looking to deploy MOTION CODE™ debit cards. Ten different international locations have deployed cards featuring MOTION CODE™ totaling more than 600,000 cards issued with more than 4,000,000 authorized transactions. Throughout these deployments, there have been no reported cases of CNP fraud (3).

“Just as IDEMIA championed the use of chip cards to address point-of-sale fraud, we are leading the way with MOTION CODE™ as an innovation solution to help fight card-not-present fraud,” said Megan Heinze, Senior Vice-President for financial institutions activities in North America at IDEMIA. “We are excited that Worldpay is the first company to deploy our solution in North America.”

Worldpay was recently selected as a finalist in the 2018 NAFCU Innovation Awards for MOTION CODE™. To learn how Worldpay can help your financial institution fight fraud and the repercussions of a data breach, visit www.vantiv.com/financial-institutions.

About IDEMIA
OT-Morpho is now IDEMIA™, the global leader in Augmented Identity™ for an increasingly digital world, with the ambition to empower citizens and consumers alike to interact, pay, connect, travel and vote in ways that are now possible in a connected environment.

Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect this asset, whether for individuals or for objects. We ensure privacy and trust as well as guarantee secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions for international clients from Financial, Telecom, Identity, Public Security and IoT sectors.

OT (Oberthur Technologies) and Safran Identity & Security (Morpho) have joined forces to form IDEMIA. With close to $3 billion in revenues and 14,000 employees around the world, IDEMIA serves clients in 180 countries.

For more information, visit www.idemia.com / Follow @IdemiaGroup on Twitter

About Worldpay
Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE: WP; LSE: WPY) is a leading payments technology company with unique capability to power global integrated omni-commerce. With industry-leading scale and an unmatched integrated technology platform, Worldpay offers clients a comprehensive suite of products and services globally, delivered through a single provider.

Worldpay processes over 40 billion transactions annually through more than 300 payment types across 146 countries and 126 currencies. The company’s growth strategy includes expanding into high-growth markets, verticals and customer segments, including global eCommerce, Integrated Payments and B2B.

Worldpay, Inc. was formed in 2018 through the combination of the No. 1 merchant acquirers in the U.S. and the U.K. Worldpay, Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange as “WP” and the London Stock Exchange as “WPY.”

Visit us at www.worldpay.com.

¹ Ponemon Institute 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study, on behalf of IBM, https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach
² Identity Theft Resource Center, 2017 Annual Data Breach Year-End Review
³ IDEMIA internal data

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180613005797/en/

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of enterprise software products and services, and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products, revealed the results of a recently commissioned global survey to better understand the priorities and challenges IT and finance decision makers face when it comes to funding and investing in innovation. The survey, conducted by Vanson Bourne, a technology market research firm, and analyzed by llan Oshri, Professor of the Graduate School of Management, University of Auckland Business School, is based on responses from 900 CIOs, IT leaders and financial decision makers from a broad range of industries, located in North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180613005299/en/

Global IT and Finance Leaders Survey Finds Biggest Blocker to Innovation is Overspending on “Keeping the Lights On” (Photo: Business Wire)

A key finding of this research is that despite recognizing the importance of innovation and business transformation, IT and finance leaders face major roadblocks including “spending too much keeping the lights on” (77%), “lack of board support for significant investment in innovation” (76%), and being “locked in to vendor contracts that restrict innovation” (74%).

Balancing Innovation Spend with Maintaining Business Operations

While most organizations claim to have the drive and ambition to be an innovator, 71% of the global survey respondents indicated that their firms struggle to find budget for these initiatives. With shrinking to flat IT budgets, IT and finance decision makers are challenged to pursue and invest in growth strategies for their business, while balancing this directive with the significant budget required to maintain and run their current operations.

Getting the Board On Board

Also topping the list of obstacles faced by IT and finance leaders when seeking budget for transformational initiatives, 76% of respondents cited “lack of board support for significant investment in innovation.” While the survey confirms there is innovation leadership at the board level, half of the respondents also note that they failed to convince the board that investing in innovation was critical for the business.

There was also agreement among respondents that the board refrains from complex, transformation projects that integrate the entire IT infrastructure (64%), the board is more focused on cost-cutting than innovation (63%), and the board is not confident that the firm has the skills to meet innovation objectives (57%).

These board-level attitudes to investment in transformational projects create a major challenge for those forward-looking CIOs and IT and finance leaders focused on supporting the organization's growth and competitive edge.

So how do IT and finance leaders shift this board mindset to receive approval to move forward with their much needed business transformation initiatives?

llan Oshri, Professor of the Graduate School of Management, University of Auckland Business School, and author of the report, “IT Leaders Frustrated with Barriers to Innovation and Falling Behind,” based on the Vanson Bourne research data, said that investing in innovation requires an organizational culture that encourages taking risks and accepting failure in order to learn.

“Most companies are more comfortable producing predictable and reliable outcomes, and are less inclined to challenge accepted conventions within the business. This risk mitigation approach is embedded into their DNA,” said Oshri. “However, organizations that excel in innovation embrace a dual mentality that balances investments in uncertain, but transformative, innovation projects with a focus on operational excellence. This balance is extremely challenging, but essential, in order to succeed today and in the future.”

The Benefits and Demonstrable ROI from Investment in Innovation

Demonstrating “hard” ROI is essential to gaining the board’s support for innovation spend. Clearly evident in the survey data was the fact that a return on investment is the secret sauce to more spending on innovation. Over a third of respondents reported their organization has already generated increased revenues (37%) or reduced operating costs (35%) as a result of their investment in innovation. Those respondents also respectively report a 14% average increase in annual revenue and a 12% decrease on average in operating costs. Additionally, 83% of the respondents acknowledged a clear link between IT innovation and their competitive industry position. The question then remains, with these statistics, why did half of the respondents cite that they have not been able to convince the board of the critical need to invest in innovation initiatives?

The survey revealed that those respondents who stated they have already experienced increased revenues as a result of their organization’s investment in innovation are less worried about their innovation budget, and are more likely to be able to convince the board to further invest in innovation. The same group also reported that they have already experienced improved productivity (62%), increased customer satisfaction (60%), and greater competitiveness (53%) – all as a result of their innovation spend.

According to Dave Jackson, CIO of Welch’s, a $700 million processing and marketing subsidiary of the National Grape Cooperative, as the company recognized changes in consumer buying habits, their strategy shifted to IT cost containment to reinvest savings and resources in new marketing initiatives.

“Welch’s required a strategy that would support increased business functionality and innovation while reducing costs,” said Jackson. “We knew we needed to invest in the future and maximize our IT budget simultaneously, so we shifted budget by moving to a third-party support model and immediately saved approximately 70% of our annual maintenance and other associated costs. That has helped us further our IT strategy by innovating around the edges of our core ERP with cloud technologies.”

Mega Vendor Strategies Hinder Innovation

Many survey respondents cited concern about the over-reliance on their organization’s enterprise application software vendors. In addition to the 74% who stated that being “locked in to vendor contracts that restrict innovation” was an obstacle to innovation, 54% agreed that they are being pressured to adopt their organization’s vendor’s cloud strategy. Many respondents are also seeking clarity on the vendor’s cloud application roadmap.

Lack of innovation from the traditional software vendors, coupled with the pressure to respond to evolving business needs faster, is driving IT and finance leaders to look at new strategies to reallocate capital and resources to innovation and growth. This reality requires a significant rethinking of cost components and budget trade-offs, and exploring innovative options across the entire IT landscape including third-party support for their enterprise applications.

“This survey highlights that while CIOs and IT and finance decision makers understand the strategic value of investing in innovation and want to invest more to reap the many benefits cited, they continue to struggle to secure the funds needed to make these investments that are so critical to their business growth,” said Hari Candadai, group vice president, Global Product Marketing and Strategy. “We understand this push-pull dynamic, and are focused on helping our more than 1,580 clients today maximize the value of their enterprise software and liberate the considerable funds that are ‘hidden’ in their IT software support. This enables our clients to redirect these savings into business transformation projects which will not only help them maintain a competitive edge, but will also earn them additional merit with their CEO and board of directors for future innovation investment requests.”

To download an eBook summary of the survey, “The State of IT Innovation: Priorities and Challenges,” click here. To register for an upcoming webcast on this topic click here.

About Vanson Bourne

Vanson Bourne is an independent specialist in market research for the technology sector. Its reputation for robust and credible research-based analysis is founded upon rigorous research principles and an ability to seek the opinions of senior decision makers across technical and business functions, in all business sectors and all major markets. For more information, visit www.vansonbourne.com.

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI) is a global provider of enterprise software products and services, and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products. The company has redefined enterprise software support services since 2005 with an innovative, award-winning program that enables licensees of IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP and other enterprise software vendors to save up to 90 percent on total support costs. Clients can remain on their current software release without any required upgrades for a minimum of 15 years. Over 1,580 global Fortune 500, midmarket, public sector and other organizations from a broad range of industries currently rely on Rimini Street as their trusted, third-party support provider. To learn more, please visit https://www.riministreet.com/, follow @riministreet on Twitter and find Rimini Street on Facebook and LinkedIn. (C-RMNI)

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “may,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “continue,” “future,” “will,” “expect,” “outlook” or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our second quarter and annual 2018 revenue guidance, industry, future events, future opportunities and growth initiatives, hiring plans, estimates of Rimini Street’s total addressable market, and projections of customer savings. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, changes in the business environment in which Rimini Street operates, including inflation and interest rates, and general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which Rimini Street operates; adverse litigation developments or government inquiry; the final amount and timing of any refunds from Oracle related to our litigation; our ability to refinance existing debt on favorable terms; changes in taxes, laws and regulations; competitive product and pricing activity; difficulties of managing growth profitably; the success of our recently introduced products and services, including Rimini Street Mobility, Rimini Street Analytics, Rimini Street Advanced Database Security, and services for Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud products; the loss of one or more members of Rimini Street’s management team; uncertainty as to the long-term value of RMNI common stock; and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rimini Street’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 15, 2018, as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be additional risks that Rimini Street presently knows or that Rimini Street currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

© 2018 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.

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Remit2India, the Indian diaspora-focused global online remittance portal, today announced signing up the Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli as its global Brand Ambassador for three years.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180614005091/en​

Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli with Finablr Executive Director Binay Shetty (right) and Finablr Executive Director Promoth Manghat (left). (Photo: AETOSWire)

Virat will endorse the Remit2India brand by being part of its innovative marketing and customer experience initiatives. Remit2India is one of the financial services brands of Finablr, the recently launched holding company of the UAE-based Indian businessman, Dr. B. R. Shetty.

The network of remittance brands under the Finablr umbrella (including Remit2India, UAE Exchange, and Xpress Money) have a significant market share of remittances to India with over 12%. In 2017, India received US$69 billion according to World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief.

“It is an honour to be the face of the iconic brand Remit2India which has over half a million customers globally. I look forward to reinforcing Remit2India’s growing appeal among the Indian diaspora as a brand that reflects an Indian sense of pride and achievement, patriotism and a spirit of belonging,” said Virat Kohli.

Remit2India’s customer footprints are predominantly across Canada, the UK, US and Australia while initiatives to rein in newer diaspora markets will gather pace by leveraging the Indian cricket captain’s widespread appeal.

“For a youthful brand like Remit2India, Virat with his image as a go-getter cricketer is an ideal fit. He represents a winning Indian enthusiasm which drives millions of Indians to distant shores to prove their mettle and in turn contribute to the home country’s development through their remittances. Both Remit2India and Virat share the spirit of excellence and it is a privilege to have him as the global face of the brand,” said Promoth Manghat, Executive Director of Finablr.

About Remit2India

Remit2India is a pioneer in online remittances to India and offers simple, safe and convenient online money transfer solutions. Remit2India's money transfer service is secure in sending money to India from the US, Canada, Australia & UK with multiple sending options. The entire process is cashless and every transaction can be tracked throughout its delivery cycle.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180614005091/en​