Hitoshi Kudo

Nikko Cordial Securities is a securities corporation based out of Tokyo, Japan. As of October 1, 2009, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation acquired all the shares in Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. Nikko Cordial Securities is a subsidiary of SMBC, a major Japanese brokerage firm and the holding company for Nikko Cordial Securities. Currently the firm has net assets of about $4.5 billion dollars.