Landmark Acquisition Aims to Build Leading Mass Market Mobile Email and Synchronization Solutions Provider Royal Tunbridge Wells, August 19, 2008 — Synchronica plc (AIM: SYNC.LN), the international provider of mobile email and synchronization solutions, today announced that it is acquiring consumer mobile email specialist AxisMobile for USD 4.9 million in new Synchronica shares. Synchronica also stated that it has raised additional funds of USD 10 million from new and existing institutional investors which brings the total funding secured in 2008 to USD 18 million. The additional funds will be used to accelerate product integration and fuel the growth of the combined business in emerging markets, such as China, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

The AxisMobile acquisition aims to make Synchronica the leading player in mass market mobile email and synchronization middleware for mobile operators and service providers. The addition of AxisMobile’s complimentary technology, customer base, and routes to market, combined with the injection of USD 10 million of additional funds will enable Synchronica to provide mass market mobile email solutions that work on more than three billion mobile phones in the market today.

AxisMobile’s consumer mobile email platform complements Synchronica’s award-winning Mobile Gateway software by adding email-to-SMS and email-to-MMS gateways, as well as a clientless solution for WAP / XHTML browser access. AxisMobile’s patented Optimizer email transcoding gateway further adds the ability to display a large variety of attachments, such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint presentations on standard feature phones handsets that would otherwise be unable to support such functionality.

The AxisMobile acquisition will also enlarge Synchronica’s footprint in emerging markets by adding a strong sales force and key customer contracts in the relatively untapped areas of Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Russia to Synchronica’s existing sales presence in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Currently, AxisMobile has eight live customer installations with major mobile operators, predominantly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and China.

Customers include: MTS, the largest mobile operator in Russia and CIS with 84 million customers; Megafon, a Russian mobile network operator with 34 million customers across 88 regions of the Russian federation including its Moscow subsidiary Sonic Duo; T-Mobile; IXI Mobile, consumer back-ends for USA, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay; E-Plus, Germany’s third largest mobile network operator with 13.6 million customers; as well as a major Chinese bank.

AxisMobile has also secured contract wins with a leading Ukrainian mobile network operator, a further leading tier one Russian mobile network operator, and a leading Swiss mobile network operator.

Commenting on the acquisition, Synchronica CEO Carsten Brinkschulte says: “The fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile is a dramatic acceleration for Synchronica, and I believe that it will build value for our shareholders. We aim to build a world leader in the market of consumer mobile email and synchronization solutions, and this acquisition is a key milestone which will improve our competitive positioning and accelerate our commercial growth. It will increase our ability to sell to customers, particularly to those in emerging economies where we see the largest potential growth for mobile email and synchronization. With the fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile, Synchronica now has sufficient mass and funding to take advantage of the outstanding opportunity to exploit the commercial potential of mass market mobile email. The next few years will be an exciting time for us all here at Synchronica and for our customers around the globe. We look forward with increased confidence from this inflect on point.”

Shai Schiller, Executive Chairman of AxisMobile, adds: “This is the start of an exciting new era for AxisMobile and our customers. There are real synergies between Synchronica’s products and target markets and our own, so it makes great commercial sense to combine forces. Both companies are committed to open standards and to developing products that work on even the most basic of handsets - a must given that the market for mass market mobile email is being fuelled by demand from the developing world. We are confident that the combined might of our two companies will prove to be greater than the sum of its parts.”

Forecasts point to emerging markets as a breakthrough area for mass market mobile email. Informa predicts that there will be 4.81 billion mobile phone subscribers by 2012, with the next billion subscribers coming from emerging markets where PC and fixed-line penetration is low.

Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway delivers push email and mobile synchronization of calendar and contact data, targeting consumer and business users with connectors to mass market mailboxes, such as Yahoo or Gmail, as well as business mailboxes, such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino. Unlike other solutions, Mobile Gateway does not require users to install additional software on the handset or behind the firewall and instead uses the dominant open industry standards Push IMAP and SyncML (OMA DS) to synchronize the built-in email and PIM applications pre-installed on more than 1.5 billion handsets in the market.

With the injection of AxisMobile technology, even the most basic phones will be able to send and receive email, further expanding the addressable market for Mobile Gateway in the consumer sector and in particular in emerging markets where low-end devices are dominating the market.

Virtual Press Conference on the Announcement

Synchronica will be hosting a virtual press conference on August 18, 2008, 11.00 BST, for members of the press and analyst communities. In addition to a presentation by Carsten Brinkschulte, Synchronica’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Cornelius the industry-respected analyst from FinnCap will add his perspective to the announcement.

Access to the web conference can be obtained by emailing david.clark@synchronica.com on 18 August before 10:30 U.K. time.

About AxisMobile

AxisMobile was founded in early 2000. It is a leader in the emerging market of consumer mobile email which allows consumers to access email via mobile telephone handsets. AxisMobile’s objective is to provide software that drives the mass market adoption of mobile email and related products by making multimedia information portable, ubiquitous, and easy to access on subscribers’ existing mobile handsets at an attractive cost. AxisMobile’s email platform provides a one-stop-shop for consumer mobile as it supports Web, WAP, IMAP4, MMS, SMS, and J2ME interfaces. Such interfaces cover most methods of transmitting mobile data communications. AxisMobile’s platform means that mobile operators no longer need to integrate platforms from different vendors. This reduces costs. AxisMobile aims to leverage customer relationships by offering additional products and services based on its technology platform, hence producing cross sales and increasing the value to customers and to its shareholders. Further information on AxisMobile is available from the web site http://www.axismobile.com

About Synchronica

Synchronica plc develops and markets industry standard mobile email and synchronization solutions for the vast majority of devices in the market today. Mobile operators, device manufacturers, and service providers in emerging and developed markets use Synchronica products to offer mobile email, PIM synchronization, and backup and restore services to their consumer and corporate customer base. Products include the push email and synchronization solution Mobile Gateway and the mass market device backup solution Mobile Backup. Headquartered in the U.K., with a development center in Germany and presences in the USA, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.LN). More information is available at http://www.synchronica.com

CINCINNATI - Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global leader in relationship management, announces the election of Ronald L. Nelson to its Board of Directors effective August 15, 2008. Mr. Nelson is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avis Budget Group, Inc., one of the world’s largest general-use car rental companies and operator of the Avis and Budget brands in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia, and New Zealand.

The announcement was made today by Philip A. Odeen, non-executive Chairman of the Board of Convergys, who in welcoming Mr. Nelson to the Board said: “Ron’s deep business and financial experience will be of great value to us during a challenging time for the business. Ron has extensive experience in services businesses and deep involvement in both acquisitions and divestitures.”

Mr. Odeen also said that Sidney Ribeau, Ph.D., the outgoing President of Bowling Green State University, was resigning from the Convergys Board. Dr. Ribeau has recently been named the 16th President of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Odeen thanked Dr. Ribeau for his years of service as a Board member to Convergys and regretted that the demands of his new role at Howard resulted in his decision to resign from the Board. “We are losing a valuable colleague and a good friend. The Board and I will miss him greatly.”

Prior to his role at Avis Budget Group, which is the successor entity to Cendant Corporation following the spin-offs of the Cendant Real Estate and Hospitality Operations, Nelson, 56, served as President, Chief Financial Officer, and a Director, of Cendant. In those capacities, he was responsible for strategic and financial planning, treasury, financial reporting and accounting, internal audit, tax, investor relations, and corporate communications, as well as the administrative functions that served Cendant’s business units.

Prior to joining Cendant, Nelson served as Co-Chief Operating Officer of DreamWorks SKG since that company’s founding in 1994. Nelson also served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and a Director at Paramount Communications, Inc., formerly Gulf & Western Industries, Inc., where he was responsible for all financial functions, including mergers and acquisitions and strategy.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is close to abandoning the auction of its Direct Line and Churchill insurance empire after raising close to £6 billion from the markets. Coupled with the £1 billion sale of its 50% stake in Tesco Personal Finance and the disposal of Angel Trains, RBS’s finance state has improved.

The US-Asia industrial trade portal Worldwide Industrial Marketplace (WIM) has added Open Request-for-Quotes (RFQs) from qualified buyers to its network of industrial supply directories serving North America and Asia.

Engineers, MRO professionals, manufacturers and other industrial buyers and suppliers across the globe have a new way to connect with one another on the Web. Worldwide Industrial Marketplace, an international publisher of industry-focused websites and a division of the Industrial Leaders Group, announced today it will include Live RFQs from worldwide industrial buyers on each of its directories at www.WorldwideIndustrialMarketplace.com.

According to Maria Santos, spokesperson for the company, the RFQs provided on the site include demands from companies sourcing for all kinds of industrial products and custom manufacturing services. Manufacturers, exporters and other suppliers of such goods and custom manufactured parts and components are able to include their company on the site to enable buyers to contact them directly.

“Members of Worldwide Industrial have requested we provide more solutions to help them reach their target market, generate trade leads and increase their customer base,” says Santos. She added, “The site now provides live RFQs from companies in need of tooling, machining, casting and molding, metal fabricating, extrusions, industrial design, rapid prototyping and other custom manufacturing services. Suppliers will find a wide range of trade leads from both buyers and suppliers of industrial goods and custom manufactured parts and components.”

Mark Hamilton, Business Director of the company believes adding open RFQ’s from qualified buyers will enable Worldwide Industrial to continue its mission to develop trading partnerships for U.S. companies involved in the manufacturing marketplace. “Quality trade leads have always played a significant role in business, especially in today’s highly competitive B2B marketplace,” said Hamilton. He continued, “Open RFQs from pre-qualified buyers are unquestionably the most effective tread leads of all because the company is ready to buy now.”

www.industrialpr.net

NEW YORK - Morgan Stanley announced today that it will repurchase at par auction rate securities (ARS) that are held by its retail accounts and were purchased through the Firm prior to February 13, 2008. Morgan Stanley has informed the appropriate authorities at the Office of the New York State Attorney General, the Office of the Secretary of State Illinois Securities Department (on behalf of the North American Securities Administrators Association), and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement with respect to these matters.

As part of our ongoing commitment to our clients, Morgan Stanley is announcing the following buy-back program:

Commencing no later than September 30, 2008, Morgan Stanley will offer to repurchase at par ARS held by all individuals, all charities and those small to medium sized businesses with accounts of $10 million or less (collectively, “retail clients”) that were purchased through the Firm prior to February 13, 2008, with the exception of those ARS where auctions are clearing or there is a scheduled redemption. The Firm will keep this offer open until November 30, 2008. The Firm anticipates that this buy-back program will result in repurchases from retail clients of approximately $4.5 billion.
Morgan Stanley will make whole any losses sustained by retail clients who purchased ARS through Morgan Stanley before Feb. 12, 2008, and sold such securities at a loss between that date and the date of this announcement.
Consistent with applicable regulatory rules, until Morgan Stanley actually provides for the liquidation of the securities on the schedule set forth above, on request, Morgan Stanley will provide no-cost loans to retail clients that will remain outstanding until the ARS are repurchased, and will reimburse retail clients for any interest costs incurred under any prior loan programs the Firm provided to its ARS customers.
To the extent that a retail client has incurred consequential damages beyond the loss of liquidity in the retail client’s holdings of ARS, Morgan Stanley will participate in a special arbitration process that the retail client may elect, and that will be overseen by FINRA, whereby Morgan Stanley will not contest liability for any alleged misrepresentations and omissions concerning the ARS, but may challenge the existence or amount of any consequential damages; the arbitration claim will be heard by a single, non-industry arbitrator.
Morgan Stanley will use its best efforts to provide liquidity solutions for its institutional investor base, including continuing to work with issuers and other interested parties on capital markets solutions, financing options and market liquidity, with the goal of resolving institutional investor clients’ liquidity concerns no later than the end of 2009. Institutional clients who purchased ARS after February 13, 2008, as well as institutional clients who hold ARS where the auctions are clearing will be excluded from the program.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 600 offices in 33 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Nuveen Investments, a leading global provider of investment services to institutions and high-net-worth investors, today provided an overview of its progress in refinancing auction-rate preferred shares (ARPS) issued by its closed-end funds (CEFs). The firm highlighted the recent launch of Variable Rate Demand Preferred (VRDP) shares to replace ARPS of four different municipal bond CEFs, and noted that tender option bonds (TOBs) continue to serve as an important refinancing tool for municipal funds. The company also revised the expected timing for refinancing ARPS of four taxable closed-end funds and scheduled a conference call on ARPS for Wednesday, August 13 at 9:30 a.m., Central Time.

“We continue to advance our goals to lower the relative cost of leverage over time for our funds and provide liquidity at par for preferred shareholders,” said Bill Adams, Executive Vice President, Nuveen Investments. “While we are pleased to be making steady progress, we share the sense of urgency felt by many investors and recognize that much work remains to be done. One of the most encouraging developments to date has been the successful issuance of the first Variable Rate Demand Preferred Shares. As we announced early on, we believe this new security will be a critical element for being able to address the industry’s ARPS refinancing challenge.”

Nuveen Investments sponsors 120 closed-end funds, of which 100 have outstanding auction-rate securities. As of today, $1.7 billion of ARPS, or approximately 40% of the $4.3 billion originally outstanding FundPreferred shares issued by Nuveen’s taxable CEFs, have been redeemed. Four more Nuveen taxable CEFs expect to redeem an additional aggregate amount of $920 million of ARPS as discussed below. As also discussed below, $1.5 billion of ARPS, or approximately 14% of the $11.1 billion originally outstanding MuniPreferred shares issued by Nuveen’s municipal CEFs, have been or are in the process of being redeemed, in part with proceeds from the successful issuance of VRDP. Nuveen has also arranged for a liquidity facility to support the issuance of additional VRDP to refinance an additional $1.25 billion of ARPS.

The US Federal Reserve has auctioned $25billion in loans to banks in its latest bid to boost credit markets.

The results of Monday’s auction were revealed on Tuesday and showed the auction was oversubscribed with 64 bidders seeking $54.8bn from the bank.

This latest auction involved lending firms money for 84 days - rather than the 25 days of previous auctions.

MINNEAPOLIS - MoneyGram International, a leading global payment services company, today announced it has acquired MoneyCard World Express, S.A. and Cambios Sol S.A., two money transfer entities affiliated with its network in Spain, as part of the company’s strategy to accelerate expansion and assume more control over network growth and distribution in key send markets. Terms were not disclosed.

Through the transactions, MoneyGram acquired approximately 500 agent locations in Spain. Pedro Moragriega, a former MoneyCard executive, has been named general manager, reporting to Giovanni Crociani, MoneyGram’s vice president retail and owned agents.

According to Chief Operating Officer Tony Ryan, MoneyGram has made it a priority to further strengthen and diversify its agent network in strategic markets around the globe. The acquisitions provide MoneyGram with a money transfer license in Spain and a platform to expand its business in a highly competitive market and a state-of-the-art technology process in line with existing Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

“We’ve had long-standing relationships with both MoneyCard and Cambios Sol as remittance businesses in our money transfer network,” said Ryan. “By integrating their services into MoneyGram operations, we will be able to continue building our business and providing convenient, high-quality service throughout this important region.”

In addition to operating its own network, MoneyGram will continue to grow its money transfer services in Spain with the support of the remittance businesses in its network.

About MoneyGram International, Inc.

MoneyGram International, Inc. is a leading global payment services company. The company’s major products and services include global money transfers, money orders and payment processing solutions for financial institutions and retail customers. MoneyGram is a New York Stock Exchange listed company with approximately 157,000 global money transfer agent locations in 180 countries and territories. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.moneygram.com.

NEW YORK - Morgan Stanley announced today that it will repurchase at par auction rate securities (ARS) that are held by its retail accounts and were purchased through the Firm prior to February 13, 2008. Morgan Stanley has informed the appropriate authorities at the Office of the New York State Attorney General, the Office of the Secretary of State Illinois Securities Department (on behalf of the North American Securities Administrators Association), and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement with respect to these matters.

As part of our ongoing commitment to our clients, Morgan Stanley is announcing the following buy-back program:

Commencing no later than September 30, 2008, Morgan Stanley will offer to repurchase at par ARS held by all individuals, all charities and those small to medium sized businesses with accounts of $10 million or less (collectively, “retail clients”) that were purchased through the Firm prior to February 13, 2008, with the exception of those ARS where auctions are clearing or there is a scheduled redemption. The Firm will keep this offer open until November 30, 2008. The Firm anticipates that this buy-back program will result in repurchases from retail clients of approximately $4.5 billion.
Morgan Stanley will make whole any losses sustained by retail clients who purchased ARS through Morgan Stanley before Feb. 12, 2008, and sold such securities at a loss between that date and the date of this announcement.
Consistent with applicable regulatory rules, until Morgan Stanley actually provides for the liquidation of the securities on the schedule set forth above, on request, Morgan Stanley will provide no-cost loans to retail clients that will remain outstanding until the ARS are repurchased, and will reimburse retail clients for any interest costs incurred under any prior loan programs the Firm provided to its ARS customers.
To the extent that a retail client has incurred consequential damages beyond the loss of liquidity in the retail client’s holdings of ARS, Morgan Stanley will participate in a special arbitration process that the retail client may elect, and that will be overseen by FINRA, whereby Morgan Stanley will not contest liability for any alleged misrepresentations and omissions concerning the ARS, but may challenge the existence or amount of any consequential damages; the arbitration claim will be heard by a single, non-industry arbitrator.
Morgan Stanley will use its best efforts to provide liquidity solutions for its institutional investor base, including continuing to work with issuers and other interested parties on capital markets solutions, financing options and market liquidity, with the goal of resolving institutional investor clients’ liquidity concerns no later than the end of 2009. Institutional clients who purchased ARS after February 13, 2008, as well as institutional clients who hold ARS where the auctions are clearing will be excluded from the program.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 600 offices in 33 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Extreme Networks Inc. has announced that it has planned to start a modified Dutch auction tender offer to buy $100 million of common stock at a price per share not less than $3.30 and not greater than $3.70. Extreme Networks intends to start the stock tender offer on August 11 2008.