27th Feb 2007 09:26
Origo Sino-India PLC27 February 2007 Origo Sino-India Plc ("Origo") ORIGO ADDS THIRD 2007 INVESTMENT WITH STAKE IN CHINESE ONLINE GAME COMPANY POSSIBILITY SPACE INC Origo Sino-India PLC ("Origo")(LSE:OSI), the investment and strategic advisorycompany focused on the private equity markets of China and India, announcedtoday its third investment of 2007. Origo has agreed to invest up to US$1.5million in Possibility Space Incorporated ("PSI"), a China based online gamecompany. Origo has extended a US$150,000 convertible note to PSI as the firststep of an investment agreement, which provides Origo with the right to followon with another US$1.35 million investment over the next 12 months. PSI has apre-money company valuation of US$10 million. PSI's founders are game industry veterans Gage Galinger and Feng Zhu. Gagesuccessfully built the games departments of GameHub and Enorbus (two venturebacked China based game studios), with previous game development experience fromvarious US studios including Ensemble Studios (Microsoft), EA and Blizzard. Fenghas previously held positions as Creative Art Director and Designer with bothgame developers and feature film developers including Lucas film, LightstormEntertainment, NC Soft, Liquid Entertainment and EA. PSI, which currently employs 28 game developers in Beijing, will complete itsfirst game, "Warrior Epic", by Q3 2007. PSI has a pipeline of prospectiveclients in Korea, India, Philippines and China.Commenting on the investment, Chris Rynning, Origo's CEO said: "This investment fits our strategy perfectly. PSI's team is among the strongestin the world in game design and technology development. PSI games and technologyare particularly well designed for playing in emerging markets like China andIndia and we will be using our presence in India to help PSI develop the marketthere." PSI's Gage Galinger commented: "The PSI platform's use of community servers and P2P file distribution greatlylowers the company's and operator's operation costs, allowing PSI to employ afree-to-play item sales model. PSI's low system requirement technology andproprietary network engine allow for distribution in any market around theworld, opening up a wider target audience than that of current MMRPG play." END For further information please call: Christopher Joll/Tim McCall, MJ2 020 7491 7776 Notes to Editors 1. Origo Sino-India plc ("Origo"): • Origo is an established and profitable private equity investor and strategic consultancy business, which provides its shareholders with exposure to growth opportunities and private equity returns in China and India. • Origo's business model is to generate capital gains from private equity investment in growth companies from which it also generates fees for consultancy services related to further fundraisings, M&A and strategic development. • Origo is aligned with two major institutions which provide a source of high quality deal flow. In China, Origo work closely with China Equity, a leading private equity firm, whose chief executive is on Origo's board. In India, Origo has entered into a memorandum of understanding with SBI Capital Markets, one of longest established companies in the Indian Capital Markets. A former chairman of SBI is on the board of Origo. • Origo has signed agreements with 4 Chinese companies and 7 Indian companies to provide both financing and advisory services, 9 portfolio companies in China - in addition to the investments in PSI - and has 23 potential investments in the pipeline. • At the AIM Placing in December 2006 Origo raised £12.8 million gross of new money via a placing of 25,673,238 Ordinary Shares at 50 pence per share. Each Ordinary Share carries a Warrant exercisable at 55p. Seymour Pierce Ltd is the nominated adviser and broker. 2. Possibility Space Incorporated •Possibility Space Incorporated is a British Virgin Island registered entity. PSI controls a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise ("WOFE") in China in order to hire and retain top Chinese development and design talent. •Gage and Feng have worked on world industry leading games titles such as "Starcraft; Battle Realms; Age of Mythology (Microsoft); Command and Conquer III (EA); Full Auto II (SEGA); The Sims universe related projects (EA); Guild Wars (NCsoft); Gears of War (Epic Games); XBOX development (Microsoft)"; and design for feature films such as "Transformers; the Movie (Michael Bay); Star Wars, Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas/Steven Spielberg); and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Movie (Imagi/Warner Brothers)". •The PSI platform allows users to start playing in the PSI game world for free within minutes of deciding to download a game. PSI games will be instantly and easily playable with a wide character cast and delivering top quality 3D graphics and animation on low spec systems. •Warrior Epic is an action adventure game mixing Sims style elements with short battle missions, with a playing cycle from 15 to 30 minutes. Designed to be free and simple to play, the game is accessible to new players who traditionally would not have the patience for a regular MMRPG. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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