Legend Capital Invests in Leading Video Games Outsourcing Provider Virtuos

Legend Capital Invests in Leading Video Games Outsourcing Provider Virtuos

June 29, 2006

    SHANGHAI, China, June 30 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
Virtuos, one of the world's largest outsourced services
provider in the games industry, announced today that it has
closed a Series A stock financing round with Legend capital,
the independent VC firm under Legend Holdings, owner of
Lenovo group. New Access Capital is the exclusive financial
advisor for this transaction.

    According to independent market research firm
Screendigest, "a quiet revolution is transforming the
games industry as developers turn to outsourcing. The
global market for games outsourcing will reach $1.1bn by
the end of 2006 and is set to grow to $2.5bn by 2010 -
representing 40% of total games development spend".

    Focusing exclusively on providing outsourced services
to international clients, Virtuos is uniquely positioned to
address this opportunity.

    In just 18 months since inception, Virtuos has become
one of the key players in games outsourcing with over 100
fulltime in-house game specialists. Underlying Virtuos'
success are an international management team, proven
processes, strong IT systems and focus. The company intends
to expand the size of its teams as well as nurture a spirit
of excellence to deliver the new service quality standards
which the game industry requires to tackle the challenges
of next generation game development. "While Virtuos
has been profitable since inception, we are excited to
partner with a group as strong as Legend. We plan to use
the new funding to triple the size of our teams in the next
2 years. Virtuos will also invest further in training,
processes, security and IT to create a level of service
never seen before in our industry," said Gilles
Langourieux, CEO, Virtuos.

    The partnership with Legend Capital is a major step
towards giving the company new means and methods to become
the partner of choice for major game companies.
"Legend Capital has made a series of successful
investments in the outsourcing industry. This team has a
unique vision for where the games industry is headed, so we
are eager to share our experience base with them and help
grow their business globally," said XIA Yang,
Executive Director, Legend Capital.

    About Virtuos

    Based in Shanghai, Virtuos was founded in December 04
by a group of veteran game developers led by former Head of
Ubisoft China, the largest offshore game studios in the
world, Gilles Langourieux. Virtuos was the first
independent foreign game company in China; its clients now
include over half of the top 10 game publishers as well as
renowned developers. Virtuos is specialized in providing
game production services in the fields of 3D Art,
programming and QA to international clients who are looking
to increase their production capacity, while keeping costs
under control. For more information, please visit
http://www.virtuosgames.com .

    About Legend Capital

    Legend Capital, a subsidiary of Legend Holdings Ltd.,
started in April, 2001 with a mission to become a top-notch
and the most respected venture capital investment manager in
China. Managing up to US$300 million across three funds,
Legend Capital focuses on driving high-growth ventures with
operations substantially based in China or on markets
related to China. Legend Capital mainly invests in the IT
industry, specifically, Internet applications &
services, wireless applications & services,
outsourcing, digital media and IC design/key components. 
Currently, it holds interest in about 40 portfolio
companies. Successful investments include Joyo.com
(acquired by Amazon.com in 2004) and outsourcing company
SinoCom (HKEX: 299). For more information, please visit
http://www.legendcapital.com.cn .

    About New Access Capital 

    New Access Capital is a boutique corporate finance
advisory firm that focuses on private equity/venture
financing and cross-border M&A transactions in China. 
Since 2003, New Access Capital has closed venture
financings and M&A deals with transaction amount over
$180m.  One of the deals (Focus Media) was voted "The
Deal of the Year" of International Private Equity in
2004.

    For more information, please contact:

     Zhang Zhuo Dan
     Assistant Manager
     Virtuos Ltd
     Tel:   [phone]
     Fax:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]
     Web:   http://www.virtuosgames.com 

SOURCE  Virtuos