Institutional Investors Invited to Register at Online General Meetings to Vote in the General Meetings of Brazilian Issuers

NEW YORK and SAO PAULO, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Assembleias Online Servicos de Informatica Ltda. ("Online General Meetings"), a wholly owned subsidiary of MZ Consult Participacoes S.A. and the leader and pioneer in electronic voting systems for general meetings (proxies signed by digital certificates), invites all institutional investors of Brazilian issuers to register (free of charge) at the website www.onlinegeneralmeetings.com. The process is fast, easy and secure. More than 600 foreign/regional investors have already registered at Online General Meetings.

Once registered and with the private digital certificates installed on their computer, institutional investors (including custodians and local representatives) will be ready to participate and vote in the general meetings of Brazilian companies that value transparency, access to information and equal treatment, as well as facilitating and maximizing shareholder participation in such meetings.

Online General Meetings is unique and features:

a)  Electronic submission of votes through the Online General Meetings platform reduces logistical obstacles for the custodians and representatives of institutional investors, allowing them more time to consider management's proposals before they are required to cast their votes.

b) Major publicly traded companies in Brazil are adopting the platform, with Petrobras and BM&FBovespa recently announcing their adoption through mailings to investors.

c) Free private digital certificates for institutional investors (issued by VeriSign/Certisign).

d) Legal representatives' proxies are controlled automatically, with the platform issuing confirmation of votes with time stamps, a fundamental feature for investment funds with rigid compliance rules.

e) Platform 100% in compliance with Instruction 481 issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM) and data center with SAS certification. The platform is in the process of certification by WebTrust, with the internal controls and processes currently being reviewed by Ernst & Young.

According to Denys Roman, CEO of Online General Meetings, "the success of our platform during 2009, with meetings experiencing substantial quorum increases of approximately 20%, and the recent announcements of important Brazilian issuers signing up for Assembleias Online, put the responsibility in the hands of institutional investors and custodians to also sign up to participate in upcoming annual and extraordinary meetings." There are no sign-up costs for final beneficiaries and custodians (including the issuance of private digital certificates).

More than 600 investors have already registered. "Investors who have already signed up for Online General Meetings should urge their invested companies to adopt the Online General Meetings platform. Other Brazilian companies could feel compelled to sign up if institutional investors send them e-mails requesting their adoption of the platform," added Denys Roman.

About Online General Meetings (www.onlinegeneralmeetings.com): Online General Meetings is an electronic voting system (using proxies with digital certification) that enables greater participation of shareholders and investment funds (or entities/cooperatives) in general meetings. The system: (i) dispenses with the physical presence of shareholders at the meeting venue; (ii) enables early voting in a convenient manner, with no bureaucracy and with total security, thanks to digital certification; and (iii) entails no cost for investors and shareholders. Online General Meetings was designed and developed by MZ Consult, the leader in financial communication services in Latin America, together with Certisign, the leader in digital certification in Brazil and an associate of VeriSign, the world leader in security and certification, and Tauil & Chequer Advogados Associado a Mayer Brown, a leading law firm specializing in Brazilian and international law, besides relying on Ernst & Young to review its internal controls (WebTrust certification).

Companies already registered: Bematech (BM&FBovespa: BEMA3), BM&FBOVESPA (BM&FBovespa: BVMF3), BR FOODS (BM&FBovespa: BRFS3 /NYSE: BRFS), Cielo (BM&FBovespa: CIEL3 /OTCQX: CIOXY), Eucatex (BM&FBovespa: EUCA3 and EUCA4), EZTEC (BM&FBovespa: EZTC3), Lupatech (BM&FBovespa: LUPA3 /OTCQX: LUPAY), Metalfrio (BM&FBovespa: FRIO3), Petrobras (BM&FBovespa: PETR3 and PETR4 /NYSE: PBR and PBRA) and Triunfo (BM&FBovespa: TPIS3).

SOURCE Online General Meetings