The FINANCIAL -- Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd. (President: Yasuhiro Sato) (“MHCB”) entered into a stock purchase agreement (the “Agreement”) with the shareholders of Eurekahedge Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company providing hedge fund research and data services (“Eurekahedge”).

Pursuant to the Agreement, MHCB will acquire 95% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares, on a fully-diluted basis, of Eurekahedge. Upon the closing of the proposed transaction, Eurekahedge will become a subsidiary of MHCB. The founder of Eurekahedge and the current Chief Executive Officer will together retain the remaining 5% of the ordinary shares of Eurekahedge and will continue to participate in its management. By maintaining management continuity, MHCB intends for Eurekahedge to continue to offer its existing services to its current customers.

Eurekahedge was established in 2001 as an independent data provider and research house and maintains and develops a database on alternative investment funds such as hedge funds and private equity funds. With a database containing information on over 20,000 funds, Eurekahedge is one of the industry’s leading companies, whose strength is in coverage of global alternative funds. In addition, Eurekahedge has developed and provides information through its “Eurekahedge Fund Indices”, which has gained global recognition as a benchmark index in the hedge fund industry.

In October 2010, MHCB established Mizuho Global Alternative Investments (“MGAI”) as a wholly owned subsidiary, to select and provide alternative investment hedge fund products for mainly Japanese institutional clients including corporate pension funds and financial institutions. MGAI and Eurekahedge previously entered into a business alliance agreement and are strengthening their collaborative efforts through joint projects such as the launch of the Japanese version MGAI-EH Newsletter, an analytical report on the hedge fund industry that MGAI issues in collaboration with Eurekahedge.

In the hedge fund industry, the value of assets under management has been recovering and we expect this growth trend to continue. The acquisition of Eurekahedge, a specialist in providing independent research and data services, and the utilization of the “Eurekahedge Fund Index” will enhance business synergies among asset management companies (such as Mizuho Alternative Investments, MHCB’s U.S. subsidiary) and securities firms within the Mizuho Financial Group, which will enable the Mizuho Financial Group to provide optimal products and services to better meet its customers’ needs.

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