FRANKFURT, Germany, HONG KONG and LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF), a leading provider of award-winning mobile 3G technology and applications, today announced that it has mandated Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG, the German Small and Mid-Caps specialist bank, as its Designated Sponsor (market maker) for its planned upgraded listing in the Entry Standard market segment in Germany later this year. Artificial Life, Inc. shares have been traded for several years in the over-the-counter market in Germany, and the Company intends to upgrade its German trading activities to the Entry Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
The Company's current United States over the counter listing and trading of Artificial Life's shares in the United States will not be affected by this anticipated change.
Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG is the market leading Designated Sponsor in Germany as per number of mandates and has been consistently assigned with an 'AA' Rating by the German Stock Exchange (Source: 4Q2009 Rating Deutsche Börse). Mandating a Designated Sponsor is a pre-requisite for continuous trading of the Company's shares on Xetra®, the German Stock Exchange's fully electronic trading platform. Xetra® is the one of the world's most powerful integrated trading systems for securities. Designated Sponsors provide additional liquidity and support trading on Xetra® by offering binding prices for the bid- and ask-side and are responsible for alleviating any imbalances between supply and demand in shares trading.
Silke Schlünsen, Head of Designated Sponsoring at Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG commented: "We are excited to join up with Artificial Life, one of world's fastest growing companies in the broadband mobile technology space. As one of the leading global providers of broadband 3G content and cutting-edge technology, we look forward to seeing how the Company continues to develop and roll out additional leading edge applications and its new m-commerce platform OPUS-M."
Eberhard Schöneburg, Chief Executive Officer of Artificial Life, Inc., added: "By making Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG the renowned German small-cap specialist and market leading Designated Sponsor, Artificial Life's Designated Sponsor, we will be providing for further support in efficiency in trading and in the liquidity of our shares on Xetra®."
About Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG
Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG is focused on mid-sized companies and has been part of the London Exchange listed Close Brothers Group plc since 2005. Among its core business areas are Designated Sponsoring, Corporate Finance, Equity Sales and Research, Fixed Income Sales, Equity trading, Fixed Income trading and Floor Specialist Trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in over 2,100 domestic and international equity and fixed income securities. The Bank is currently market leader in Designated Sponsoring with 170 mandates at last count and in this capacity, is responsible for active trading and improved liquidity in the shares of its mandates. The Capital Markets team at Close Brothers Seydler Bank AG assists company management with the planning, structuring and placement of capital market transactions. This includes the structuring and execution of initial public offerings (IPOs), capital increases and placement of equity block trades. In the fixed income area, the team provides expert services in the structuring and placement of convertibles and corporate bonds. Close Brothers Seydler Research AG, a subsidiary of the Bank, has a reputation for being one of the most prominent analyst houses covering mid-sized German companies.
About Artificial Life, Inc.
Artificial Life, Inc. (OTCBB:ALIF) is a public U.S. corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, with its production center in Hong Kong and additional offices in Berlin (EMEA headquarter) and Tokyo. As a leading, full-service provider of mobile broadband 3G technology, mobile participation TV, mobile gaming, content and business applications, Artificial Life provides 2D and 3D multi- and single- player rich-media applications for 3G, 3.5G and 4G network-enabled mobile phones. Recognized internationally for outstanding content quality and technology, Artificial Life transcends traditional modes of mobile communications and interactive gaming. For more information, please visit www.artificial-life.com or the company's m-commerce portal at www.botme.com.
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Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our future results of operations, financial condition and business prospects. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Although such statements are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual market trends or our actual results of operations, financial condition or business prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward looking statements for a variety of reasons. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to obtain additional funding to operate and grow our business; the unproven potential of our mobile gaming business model; changing consumer preferences and uncertainty of market acceptance of our products; timely adoption and availability of 3G mobile technology; market acceptance for use of mobile handheld devices to play the interactive games; unpredictable mobile game development schedules; our reliance on a relatively small number of brands; our ability to license brands from others; our dependence upon resellers and telecommunication carriers and operators to distribute our products; our ability to successfully develop, introduce, and sell new or enhanced products in a timely manner; and the timing of new product announcements or introductions by us or by our competitors. For additional discussion of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB filed on February 9, 2009. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release.