NewSmith appoints Japanese Equity Team

London, Thursday, September 28, 2006

NewSmith Asset Management, the investment management business of NewSmith Capital Partners, today announces the appointment of a Japanese equity team.

Mr. Shusaku Saito has been appointed Partner and Chief Investment Officer for NewSmith, Japan, while Mr. Atsushi Sakaji and Ms. Shirane Sasanuki join NewSmith as Partners and Senior Fund Managers. All three come to NewSmith from Sphere Investment Co. Ltd..

They will join the Firm on October 2nd and begin providing investment advisory services in Japanese equities to NewSmith clients in December, working from the Firm’s Tokyo office.

Before establishing Sphere in 2005, Shusaku Saito was Head of Japanese Equity Portfolio Management at Credit Suisse Trust and Banking Co., Ltd.. Prior to that he was Head of Japanese Equity Portfolio Management at UBS Trust and Banking Co., Ltd. He has worked in the Japanese equity market since 1988.

Atsushi Sakaji has fifteen years of investment management experience, starting his career with Nippon Life in 1991. Before joining Sphere he was a Director and Senior Fund Manager at Cititrust and Citigroup Advisors for ten years, specialising in small cap stocks. He received the 2003 Fund of the Year award for Japan Smaller Companies (Lipper Fund Awards U.K. 2004).

Shirane Sasanuki has twelve years of investment experience, working as a Fund Manager at INVESCO Asset Management (Japan), where she managed portfolios for both international and Japanese institutional clients.

Jun Miyazaki, CEO of NewSmith Capital Partners Japan, said, “Saito-san, Sakaji-san and Sasanuki-san are highly talented asset managers who share a disciplined and rigorous approach to equity investment. I look forward to working with them, adding Japanese equities to NewSmith’s existing investment strategies.”

Check Low, Founding Partner and Head of NewSmith Asia, said, “We welcome Saito-san and his colleagues to NewSmith. Japan is an attractive market for our clients, and becoming more so. We are delighted at being able to offer a new, sharp focus on Japanese equities.”