SBI HOLDINGS, INC. 
By
11 November 2013
SBI Holdings, Inc.
SBI Holdings, Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Yoshitaka Kitao, "SBIH") hereby announces that SBIH and Fudan University, one of China's leading universities located in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, have agreed to sign a donation agreement to make a donation to an education development fund of Fudan University.
A major amount out of the donation of RMB 2 million (approximately JPY 33 million) will be used to support research activities in the field of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA*) at the Fudan University School of Life Sciences, the university's educational research institution related to biotechnology. The Fudan University School of Life Sciences is planning to commence research for an efficacy study of 5-ALA in the mechanism of diabetes.
SBIH and Shanghai Fudan Forward Science & Technology Co., Ltd., a company of the university's group and China's first university-related listed company, have jointly established a fund management company Shanghai Fusi Venture Capital Management Co., Ltd. ("Fusi"). Fusi has been actively investing in promising unlisted Chinese companies such as the university-launched start-ups and related companies of Fudan University focusing mainly on the fields of education and medicine, areas where the university has expertise.
SBIH will strengthen cooperation with Fudan University in the 5-ALA business which has been promoted by the SBI Group both inside and outside Japan. The SBI Group will endeavor to help people around the world stay healthy by further identifying the various possibilities of 5-ALA through pursuing R&D jointly with our partners inside and outside Japan.
About Fudan University
Established in 1905, Fudan University is one of the oldest and best known universities in China. Fudan University, a national university with an established reputation in the field of medicine, is a comprehensive research university and has 57 research institutions, 80 interdisciplinary research centers, and 8 attached hospitals which combine medical services, clinical teaching, and science research. The Fudan University School of Life Sciences is one of the top biotechnology educational research institutions in China and has Shanghai Fudan Forward Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Fudan Zhangjiang Biotech Co., Ltd. in the field of medicine. Fudan Zhangjiang Biotech Co., Ltd. has registered and is selling drugs containing 5-ALA (photodynamic therapy drug, treatment of HPV infection) in China.
* 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA): An amino acid created in mitochondria. It is an important substance that serves as protein material related to energy production in the form of hemes and cytochromes, and its productivity is known to decrease with age.
5-ALA is contained in shochu distillation remnants, red wine and food such as radish sprouts. It is also known as a material forming chloroplasts in plants.
**************************************************************************************** For further information, please contact:
SBI Holdings, Inc. Corporate Communications Dept., Tel: +81 3 6229-0126
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