Egham, 5th July 2007 – Verbatim®, the specialist in storage media, acquires SmartDisk® Corporation, a leading provider of storage products in the US. By purchasing the external hard drive and digital imaging business of SmartDisk®, Verbatim strengthens its successful enterprise and offers customers a still better choice of storage media.

Verbatim and its parent company Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM), announced today the purchase of substantially all of the assets of SmartDisk® Corporation’s external hard drive (HD) and digital imaging business. With 44 million US$ annual revenue in 2006 SmartDisk is a leading provider of portable, network and multimedia storage products and technologies headquartered in Ft. Myers, Florida USA. The acquisition, which includes physical assets, patents, trademarks, technology, engineering and marketing expertise, was effective on June 30, 2007.

By combining its worldwide brand strength and its new assets, Verbatim will offer an expanded line of optical, magnetic and flash products that meet the diverse storage needs of consumers and businesses around the globe. In addition to acquiring SmartDisk technology and patents, Verbatim is hiring key US engineering, operations, marketing and sales personnel to smooth the transition and assist with future business growth.

“The acquisition of SmartDisk’s external and portable hard drive assets is complementary to Verbatim’s existing business,” said Shigenori Otsuka, president of MKM.  “Plans are already underway to leverage these assets and Verbatim’s heritage to quickly extend our global leadership in the removable storage and related accessories markets.  Today’s consumers and business professionals need the full range of portable storage options – hard disk, optical and flash. Now, we can meet all of their storage requirements with a complete family of highly reliable, technically advanced solutions that are also cost-effective.”

The need for a fast, easy way to store, share and transport data files, presentations, photos, music and video is fuelling explosive growth in the worldwide removable storage industry.  IDC predicts more than 6 million external hard drives will be shipped in 2008, up 58 percent from the 3.8 million units shipped in 2006. The Verbatim brand is recognised worldwide for delivering data storage solutions with the latest technologies, the highest quality, and features that add value for the consumer.

About Verbatim

Since 1969, Verbatim has been shaping the development of data storage technology – from floppy disks and magneto-optical storage media to the latest CD and DVD formats, USB keys, Flash memory cards and computer accessories. Verbatim is part of the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation Group and benefits from the outstanding research and development department. With these innovations Verbatim has played a key role in shaping the storage media market. Ultra-strict quality controls during the manufacturing process ensure the high quality of Verbatim’s products, which have been the winners of numerous international comparative tests. The company is the European market leader for optical media.
For more information please visit www.verbatim-europe.com

Editorial Contacts:

Verbatim Ltd.
Gary Milner
Tel.: +44 (0)178-4439-781
gmilner@verbatim-europe.com

Verbatim GmbH
Rüdiger Theobald
Tel.: +49 (0)6196-9001-30
rtheobald@verbatim-europe.com