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The SPARX Team

Tokyo

SHUHEI ABE	President & CEO, SPARX Group Co., Ltd (SHC) Founder & CEO & CIO, SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. (SAM)
Mr. Abe began his career as an analyst for Nomura Research Institute (Japan) and transferred to Nomura Securities in 1982. After working in Japanese equity institutional sales at Nomura Securities International (New York), he formed Abe Capital Research Inc. in 1985 and managed Japanese equity investments for US and European investors. In 1989, Mr. Abe returned to Tokyo, Japan to start SPARX Asset Management (SAM), the precursor to SPARX Group Co., Ltd. He completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program (AMP) in 2005.
MASATOSHI (MARC) FUKAMI	Managing Director, SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC) Head of Corporate Planning, SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. (SAM)
Served in marketing, corporate planning and private banking capacities at a major Japanese broker dealer for 13 years before joining SPARX Asset Management Co. (SAM) and transferring to SPARX Securities Co. (SEC) in May of 1998. Outside of work, Mr. Fukami, a black belt in karaoke, is an active member of a men's choral group.
MIKIO FUJII	Director, SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC) Head of Administration & General Affairs Group Leader
Graduated Kyoto Univ. with a B.A. in economics and joined Nomura Securities in 1981. After obtained an MBA from Carnegie-Mellon Univ. in 1987, he developed his career mainly in fixed-income products and treasury division. In 1997, he was seconded to a derivative house which was set up jointly with IBJ as CFO and Corporate Secretary. In 2000, he got a new job at Toyota Motor Corp. to found and develop a securities firm as SMD. In 2007, he was assigned a director of Toyota Financial Services Corp. as a holding company of Toyota's financial subsidiaries all over the world. He joined SPARX Group in January 2008.
SHINJI NAITO	Senior Managing Director, SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. (SAM) Head of Trading
Mr. Naito joined Sumitomo Trust & Banking, where he was in charge of corporate finance for both the Tokyo and NY offices, after graduating from Waseda University in 1987 with a B.A. degree in finance. After obtaining an MBA from UCLA in 1994, he became responsible for interest rate risk portfolio management of the bank’s proprietary assets and liabilities. Mr. Naito then joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1998, where he engaged in the marketing of mutual funds. He joined SPARX Asset Management Co. (SAM) in 2000.
MIKIRO (MICKY) SHIMIZU	President & CEO, SPARX Securities Co., Ltd. (SEC) Business Development & Client Services
Prior to joining SPARX Asset Management Co. (SAM) in 1997, Mr. Shimizu was head of the PALM Team and responsible for branch management to help facilitate Nomura Securities' private banking efforts. Prior to that, he was responsible for retail marketing for three years at Nomura's Namba branch. Earlier, he was transferred to the training division of the Personnel Department, where he created training programs and researched management issues. He spent his first six years at Nomura focusing on retail marketing at the Ikebukuro Nishiguchi branch and the Sendai branch. Mr. Shimizu holds a BA in Law from Kyoto University, and he is a Chartered Member of the Security Analysts Association of Japan and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Outside of work, he keep in shapes as a black belt in Kyokushin karate.
SHOICHI MIYASAKA	President & CEO, SPARX Capital Partners Co., Ltd. (SCP)
Mr. Miyasaka joined SPARX Group in 2001 after serving as chief financial officer of an IT start-up company. In 1998, he joined Booz Allen & Hamilton (Japan) and worked as a management consultant after 10 years at Nomura Securities Co. Mr. Miyasaka's work experience at Nomura included retail sales, IPO consulting and M&A advisory services for Wasserstein Perella & Co. in New York. He graduated from Keio University with a B.A. in 1988 and obtained an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1995.
SHIGERU TAMAKI	Director, SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. (SAM) Business Development & Marketing (Japan-Asia)
Mr. Tamaki joined SPARX Asset Management Co. (SAM) in June of 2000, and is currently the Head of Business Development based in Tokyo. Prior to joining SPARX, Mr.Tamaki spent 2.5 years at ITOCHU Corporation in Tokyo where he served in various areas including the bond trading pits, FX trading desk and Hedge Funds investment unit. He also spent another 2.5 years at Clinton Group, Inc. in New York, at the time the top-ranked CMO and MBS hedge fund, where he was a trading analyst for the market neutral strategy and involved in marketing to Japanese financial institutions. Mr. Tamaki holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Keio University. He is a black belt in Kyokushin karate.
YUSUKE YASOKAWA	Head of Corporate Planning, SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC)
Mr. Yasokawa started his career as an in-house architect at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) following his graduation from the University of Tokyo with a B.S. degree in 1989. After earning a MBA from the Yale School of Management in 1997, he joined the Boston Consulting Group , where he provided managerial consulting services to companies in range of industries and dealt with a variety of issues. In 2002, Mr. Yasokawa entered ULTIMA Capital Management Inc. as a director with a focus on investments in CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities). His major responsibilities included crafting consulting services for potential originators of assets, arrangement and documentation for transactions, investment analysis on issued securities, as well as asset management and administration for asset holding SPCs. He joined SPARX Securities Co. (SEC) in April of 2004.
AKIHITO AKASHI	Director, SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. (SAM) Head of Legal & Compliance

YOGO KIMURA	Director, SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC)

NAOTAKA MURASUMI	Director (External), SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC)

HIRONOBU GOTO	Director, SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC)

KATSUMASA FUJITA	Corporate Auditor (Full-Time), SPARX Group Co., Ltd. (SHC)

Hong Kong

MASAKI TANIGUCHI	President, SPARX International Hong Kong, Ltd. (SIHK)

FARHAT MALIK	Director, PMA Investment Advisors, Limited (PMAIA) Business Development

London

TAKESHI SUZUKI	President, SPARX Asset Management International, Ltd. (SAMI)

New York

MATTHEW KUBO	President, SPARX Investment & Research, USA, Inc. (SIR)

Seoul

KEVIN CHOI	Director, Cosmo Investment Management Co., Ltd. (COSMO)

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KOREA’S BUSINESS SENTIMENT DOWN: South Korean manufacturers' confidence for August fell to 74 from 77 in July, a Bank of Korea survey showed on July 31. The level stood at a 3-year low as domestic and global sales slowed and commodity costs soared.

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