*********************************************************

A New-Zealand-invested anti-spam and security service provider, MailProve Limited, today (February 19) announced that the company has chosen Hong Kong to set up its regional headquarters at Cyberport. The Hong Kong base will oversee various strategic development, corporate expansion, sales and marketing and administrative functions.

The Chief Executive Officer of MailProve Limited, Mr Jeffrey Vong, said, "Hong Kong is ideally situated in the centre of Asia, which is important for companies like us that conduct business in more than one market in the region. We can conveniently and efficiently travel to, and communicate with, the rest of the region, including the Mainland."

MailProve Limited, a New-Zealand-invested company, was incorporated in Hong Kong in 2003. It focuses mainly on providing anti-spam solutions to its customers in the Asia Pacific region.

"Another reason for us to choose Hong Kong is its excellent business environment which offers great opportunities for IT companies like ours. Our customers are mainly ISPs, managed service providers, hosting companies and enterprises with their own mail servers. We believe that Hong Kong, with well established IT and telecommunications infrastructure in place, allows us to stay close to the latest developments in the industry. Its proximity and close ties to the Mainland provides another attraction to us. That's why we decided to build our base in Hong Kong."

MailProve's headquarters in Hong Kong will be used as a strategic location to tap into target markets in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, New Zealand, Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Korea.

"With our new strategic move in Hong Kong, we are confident that we will succeed in Hong Kong, set the de facto standard and become the leading anti-spam provider in the region. Hong Kong offers what we need to develop our businesses in the region." Mr Vong said.

The Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mr John Rutherford, welcomed MailProve's decision. He said, "Hong Kong is the international business hub of Asia, providing world-class IT infrastructure for a wide spectrum of IT companies to develop their business, including anti-spam and security solutions. MailProve's selection of Hong Kong demonstrates the market potential in the IT sector. It confirms Hong Kong as having the competitive edge for commercialisation of technologies and serving as the platform for introducing new services to the Mainland and the rest of the Asia Pacific region."

"We are pleased to see more IT companies like MailProve setting up their regional or global headquarters in Hong Kong. InvestHK will continue to work closely with business community to bring more IT companies to Hong Kong, further strengthening Hong Kong's position as one of the leading and most sophisticated IT hubs in Asia," Mr Rutherford said.

Invest Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's one-stop shop for overseas companies who are interested in establishing or expanding their presence here.

Ends/Thursday, February 19, 2004

NNNN