Re: Investment

RNS Number:9296R
London Asia Capital PLC
29 September 2005


29 September 2005


                            LONDON ASIA CAPITAL PLC

                        ("London Asia" or "the Company")

       INCREASED INVESTMENT IN EASTSEA GROUP, FILING FOR LISTING ON OFEX
      NEW INVESTOR AT INCREASED VALUATION, OPENING OF NEW OFFICE IN NINGBO

London Asia today announces that it has increased its stake in China Eastsea
Business Software Ltd ("Eastsea"), a leading Chinese IT outsourcing service
provider, with an additional #186,000 investment. As part of the original
investment in Eastsea made in May this year, London Asia took an option over an
additional 4.5% of the company, to be acquired via a share swap. This option has
now been exercised via the issue of 1,100,000 London Asia shares, issued at a
price of 17.85 pence per share, based on a valuation of Eastsea of 4.5 times
February 2005 profits. Application has been made to admit the London Asia shares
to be issued to trading on AIM, with admission expected on 5 October 2005.

Huitung Investment Ltd, part of Hotung Group, the Taiwanese venture capital
group with a listed arm in Singapore, has acquired an 8% stake in Eastsea via a
US$1 million investment, at a valuation equivalent to six times the February
2005 profits. Following Hotung's investment and the exercise of the option,
London Asia's stake in Eastsea is 12.4%.

Since London Asia was appointed corporate adviser to Eastsea in May, Eastsea has
created a new holding company, China Eastsea Business Software Ltd, incorporated
in Jersey, and London Asia Corporate Finance has been appointed to list the
company on OFEX. London Asia's Chief Executive, Simon Littlewood, has joined the
Board of the new holding company and will be assisting at each stage of the
listing process.

In conjunction with the increased investment in Eastsea, London Asia is opening
a new office in Ningbo, China. Ningbo is one of China's most important coastal
cities, with a population of 5.3 million and one of the first cities opened up
to foreigners. It is estimated to be the fourth wealthiest city in China and one
of five Chinese cities afforded special economic development zone status. Ningbo
is also the second busiest harbour in mainland China.

Eric Zhaofa Zhu, Eastsea Chief Executive, said: "Our business is expanding
rapidly and the funds invested by London Asia and Hotung, plus their contacts
outside China and the upcoming listing on OFEX, will enable us to continue to
expand both within China and internationally."

Simon Littlewood, London Asia Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted by the
investment made in Eastsea by Hotung, which backs up our own faith in the
quality of this business. Eastsea is a highly successful business with an
extremely experienced management team, and a proven track record with over 60
projects completed since inception. Eastsea's progress over the past few months
is another example of our business model in action. It is gratifying to see our
investments develop from the funding stage, to secondary finance, to listing,
where we ultimately demonstrate the value of our investments and can achieve a
return of funds."


For further information please visit www.londonasia.com or contact:

Simon Littlewood, Chief Executive             Jeremy Carey/Clemmie Carr
London Asia Capital                           Tavistock Communications
Tel: [phone]                            Tel: [phone]

About Hotung Group

Founded in Taiwan in 1987, Hotung Group has grown from one fund to fifteen
domestic funds and seven offshore funds under management. The total fund size
under management has grown from NT$ 200 million to over NT$11.5 billion. Hotung
Investment Holdings Limited went public in August 1997 on the Singapore Stock
Exchange. It was the first venture capital company in Taiwan to become a
publicly traded company overseas. For additional information, please visit
www.hotung.com.tw

About Eastsea

Eastsea was formed in 2004 through the buyout of the IT department of Sinopec
Zhenhai Oil Refining and Chemical Company Limited (a leading oil refinery in
China), and a series of other acquisitions.

The Group provides outsourcing services including IT strategy formulation,
system design, ERP implementation, software development, business workflow
processing and system maintenance. The Group has proprietary technology on a
management platform over Internet, intranet and corporate portals, as well as on
information integration. The Group has successfully leveraged its expertise in
search engines and information management to build customized products to grow
its government IT outsourcing market. 92% of the Group's 95 staff have bachelor
degrees and above.

Oil/gas industry clients include Sinopec Zhenhai, BP Ningbo and various
subsidiaries of Sinopec. Government clients include the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the State Development Bank, the Ministry of Culture, the State
Development and Reform Committee and the municipal governments of Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou and Ningbo. The Group's ERP project for Sinopec Zhenhai won
a prestigious National award for "Best IT Application".

For additional information, visit www.eastseagroup.com/en/index.htm

                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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