ARCHIVE 2006

Datamars SA completes CHF 11 million Growth Capital Round

Investment enables expansion in USA and consolidation of its leadership positon in animal tagging and textile rental industry

Lugano, Switzerland, November 10, 2006 - Datamars SA, a leader of identification solutions based on RFID technology for the companion animal identification and textile rental industry, announced today that it has raised CHF 11 million. This investment will allow the company to launch its lead product in animal tagging in the USA after having taken an undisputed leadership in Europe. The financing was led by Renaissance PME and a Swisscom investment vehicle, Mona Lisa AG, both managed by Vinci Capital (Switzerland) with the participation of the existing investors Iris Capital (France), Invision Private Equity (Switzerland), Cornerstone Capital (Germany) and Universal Capital Partners (Belgium). Olivier Tavel from Vinci Capital will join the Board of Datamars.

Datamars SA was founded in 1988 and develops innovative identification solutions based on RFID transponders, corresponding readers and antennae that it designs and produces at its headquarter near Lugano in Switzerland. The company currently employs over 110 people in Switzerland, Thailand and the USA, and has grown profitably in the last three years at an annual rate of close to 30%.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a contactless data transmission technology which yields considerable value for a wide number of applications. “Datamars technology offers significant advantages over competition and this investment should allow Datamars to leverage its technology investment to penetrate the American market with a prime industrial partnership in distribution” said Parvis Hassan-Zade, Chairman and CEO of the Datamars group.

“We believe the innovative products developed by Datamars can play a major role in the fast growing markets in which RFID technology adds considerable value over other technologies,” said Olivier Tavel, Managing Partner of Vinci Capital. “We have been very impressed with the drive and commitment exhibited by Datamars in taking its unique technology to commercialization and so we are very pleased to participate in this exciting opportunity.”

About Datamars:

Datamars is a leader in providing high quality low cost solutions based on proprietary technology in two vertical markets: companion animal identification and the textile garment market in which it has an installed base of over 650 laundry plants in more than 20 countries. The company was founded in 1988 and is based in Bedano (near Lugano), Switzerland. For more information visit www.datamars.com.

About Renaissance PME, Monalisa AG and Vinci Capital SA:

Renaissance PME is a Swiss-based foundation dedicated to Swiss pension funds to provide them with a fiscally-optimized and regulated vehicle for direct private-equity investments. Mona Lisa AG is a Swiss investment holding funded by Swisscom dedicated to financing innovative Swiss SMEs with high growth potential. Vinci Capital is an independent Swiss private-equity firm with an exclusive mandate to manage the funds of Renaissance PME and Mona Lisa AG. For further information visit www.renaissance-pme.ch and www.vincicapital.ch.

Contacts:
Parvis Hassan-Zade
Datamars SA
Tel: +41 91 935 73 80
contact@datamars.com

Olivier Tavel
Vinci Capital
Tel: +41 21 693 92 31
ot@vincicapital.ch