NOVA CAPITAL PARTNERS RAISES USD$35 MILLION FOR NATIONAL SPORTS LOTTERY PLC

New York, NY – 14 December 2009 – Nova Capital Partners, LLC has announced that its client, National Sports Lottery Plc (“NSL”), has received an equity capital commitment of USD$35 million (NGN 5.3 billion) from the international private equity investment firm The GEM Group.

Based in Lagos, Nigeria, NSL is an innovative technology oriented business that owns and operates a growing network of advanced point of sales terminals and a high-volume, secure financial transaction processing infrastructure that serves as a payment platform for the national lottery, vending of electronic ‘air time’ for mobile phones, governmental collections and other electronic payment transactions in Nigeria. The company’s shares are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The proceeds from the equity facility will be used to finance the operations of the company’s continued growth and to support working capital needs.

The GEM Group is a US$3.4 billion private equity investment group founded in 1991, with offices in Paris, London, Hong Kong and New York. The investment into NSL is in the form of an Equity Facility, provided through GEM Investments Advisers and GEM Global Yield Fund Limited.

The USD$35 million equity investment is a key development for NSL and is the first investment into the company from an international capital provider. Commenting on the strategic investment by GEM, Dr O.B.A Kola-Daisi, Chief Executive of NSL, said, “NSL is delighted to have GEM as our strategic shareholder.”

Nova Capital Partners—an emerging markets focused investment bank based in New York— acted as lead financial advisor to NSL in sourcing, structuring and executing the transaction. Mr. Paul Dixon, Managing Director at Nova Capital Partners, said, “This is an excellent financing solution for NSL. Our firm is pleased to facilitate and advise NSL on this important transaction and we look forward to continuing our efforts on behalf of the company.”

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