iTouch, one of the world’s leading providers of mobile entertainment services, announces today that the management of iTouch have bought the Company from For-side of Japan.  iTouch was listed on the London Stock Exchange until June 2005 when it was bought by For-side for $330m, having grown rapidly as a public company through a series of international acquisitions.  Since being acquired, the Company has continued to expand on an international basis, particularly in Europe and South America, and is now one of the leading global players in the mobile entertainment business.

iTouch currently generates in excess of  $230 million in revenues on an annual basis.  It now has operations in 13 countries and provides services in a total of 22 countries across three continents. 
 
The management buyout is being led by three Directors of iTouch: Wayne Pitout, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Michael LeHoux, Finance Director and Gonzalo de la Cierva, founder of Movilisto in Spain.
 
The financing syndicate is being led by US-based Oak Investment Partners who have a track record of success in the interactive media, infrastructure and mobile internet sectors, most recently, having invested in MobiTV; one of the leaders in the provisioning of broadcast quality television content on mobile phones.  
 
Wayne Pitout, Chief Executive Officer of iTouch, commented, “This is a great opportunity for us.  I believe iTouch is in an excellent position to take advantage of the growth expected in mobile internet services.  It is clear that with the greater proliferation of 3G mobile phones and the broadband capabilities this will bring, we are at the beginning of an era where accessing information and entertainment on one’s mobile will become more widespread than on the PC. This has already happened in Japan and South Korea and will have the same impact that broadband brought to the internet (generally referred to as Web 2.0).  As part of the For-side group, we have benefited from international support and funding in order to consolidate our market position as well as add to our stable of operations around the world.  I think, now as an independent company we will be in a very powerful position to leverage this growth opportunity.”
 
Ifty Ahmed, General Partner at Oak Investment Partners, commented, “We are delighted at the opportunity to back Wayne and the rest of the management team at iTouch who have demonstrated their ability to deliver consistent growth and become a leader in this exciting market.  We believe that we are on the cusp of a period of massive expansion in mobile internet services and are about to see a paradigm shift with regards to accessing digital content via mobile devices.  iTouch has the global presence and reach to be one of the main drivers and beneficiaries of this change and we look forward to being a part of that success.”
 
Whilst part of the For-side group, iTouch has integrated a number of other businesses into its operations.  They include:

mFUN, based in Brazil, provides mobile entertainment services for VIVO, Claro and TIM as well as the large media groups, Globo and SBT.

Founded in 1995, iTouch is now one of the worlds leading providers of mobile entertainment and information services. iTouch's business model is based on providing a broad range of consumer information and interactive applications both directly to users through SMS, WAP, MMS and voice applications, as well as through partnerships with numerous distribution channels including media companies, network operators, web portals and handset manufacturers. 

Established in 1978, Oak Investment Partners is a venture capital firm with a strong track record as a stage-independent investor with over $8.4 billion in committed capital.  To date, Oak has funded more than 400 companies with aggregate annual revenues in excess of $60 billion. Oak's investment strategy focuses on growth opportunities in communications, information technology, consumer internet, interactive entertainment and new media, financial services technology, healthcare services, and consumer retail.   Located in Westport, CT, and with offices in Minneapolis, MN, and Palo Alto, CA, Oak concentrates on building long-term relationships with experienced management teams to develop successful companies that deliver consistent performance.  Representative portfolio companies are Actel, Airspan Networks, Compaq, Genzyme, Gmarket, Inktomi (acquired by Yahoo!), MobiTV, NemeriX, Oberon Media, Parametric Technology Corporation, Plastic Logic, Polycom, Seagate Technologies, SMIC, Sybase, Synaptics, Synopsys, TeleAtlas, Virata, Wireless Facilities (WFII) etc.  For additional information visit www.oakvc.com