PITTSBURGH, January 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Investors Siemens Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund Perseus to Join Board of Directors

BPL Global(TM), Ltd., a smart grid technology company dedicated to leading the transformation of energy and information delivery, today announced the acquisition of Serveron. A transformer monitor technology provider, Serveron offers on-line transformer monitoring products as well as diagnostic services that are critical to utilities in improving grid reliability while optimizing the management and economics of their asset base. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Serveron will become a division of BPL Global and maintain its headquarters near Portland, Oregon. With this acquisition, BPL Global expands its smart grid presence from the customer premises back through the substation. Serveron's solutions help utilities avoid transformer failures and resultant blackouts, reduce maintenance costs and defer capital expenditures by extending transformer useful life.

On-site transformer monitoring helps electric utilities manage their expensive transformer assets more reliably and operate them with a greater margin of safety, enabling them to minimize or delay the costs of repairing or replacing these valuable assets. The cost of purchasing new power transformers can range from US$500,000 to more than US$6 million each.

BPL Global has a major presence in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. With the acquisition of Serveron, it significantly expands its international footprint, particularly in Asia, Latin America and South Africa. This acquisition enables BPL Global to address a worldwide market with solutions that support the largest and most critical substation asset class, power transformers.

"Joining forces with Serveron is an exciting milestone for us," said Keith Schaefer, CEO of BPL Global. "Utilities have a strong interest in suppliers with comprehensive smart grid solutions and Serveron complements and broadens our offering. We believe the combination of our people, solutions and market reach will accelerate growth, building on our global leadership position in the clean technology sector."

"This is a positive development for our company and our customers," said Bart Tichelman, CEO of Serveron. "Together, Serveron and BPL Global can deliver innovative smart grid solutions that span utility generation, transmission and distribution applications."

Todd Jaquez-Fissori, a Siemens Venture Capital investment partner, and John Fox, managing director, Perseus LLC, will join BPL Global's board of directors as a result of the acquisition.

"Siemens is pleased to join the BPL Global board because of the importance of smart grid technology in promoting energy efficiency and reaching environmental impact goals," said Jaquez-Fissori. "BPL Global and Serveron are pioneers in this area. With their deep engineering knowledge and strong global resources, they are poised to make a powerful impact in green technology."

The acquisition expands the reach of BPL Global's Power SG(TM) software platform through the substation. The platform provides a comprehensive set of smart grid solutions for the capacity and supply, demand management, reliability and operations, and communications markets of the clean technology sector of the electric utility industry.

About BPL Global

BPL Global, Ltd. (BPLG) is a smart grid technology company dedicated to leading the transformation of how energy and information are delivered. The company provides software solutions to electric utilities enabling an intelligent grid to more efficiently manage demand, integrate distributed energy resources, improve service reliability, and optimize cost and capital productivity. BPL Global partners with local utilities, ISPs, equipment suppliers and financiers to create end-to-end solutions integrating the best in software, communications, hardware and managed services to aggressively deploy our solutions around the world. Part of the clean technology sector of the electric utility industry, our applications provide the critical foundation for a coordinated, intelligent grid to deliver energy more efficiently for a greener environment. www.bplglobal.net.

About Serveron

Reliability of the worldwide electrical grid is paramount, and Serveron asset condition assessment and management tools are critical to utilities in improving grid reliability while optimizing the management and economics of their asset base. Smart-grid technology provider Serveron develops, delivers and supports on-line transformer products, as well as diagnostic services, that are helping restructure the way utility assets are managed. Headquartered in Hillsboro, OR, Serveron serves electric power providers in the United States and around the world. For more information, please visit: www.serveron.com.

About Siemens Venture Capital

Siemens Venture Capital (SVC) is the corporate venture organization for Siemens AG, one of the largest global electronics and engineering companies, with reported worldwide sales of 87.3 billion euro in the fiscal year 2006. SVC's goal is to identify and fund investments in emerging and innovative technologies that will enhance the core business scope of Siemens, particularly in the focus areas of long-term growth markets such as Energy & Environmental Care, Automation & Control, Industrial & Public Infrastructure and Healthcare. To date, we have invested over 700 million euro in more than 100 start-up companies and 35 venture capital funds, making venture capital at Siemens an integral component of the Siemens innovation and growth strategy, which furthermore supplements its in-house research and development activities (5.7 billion euro and 50,000 R&D experts in 2006). SVC is located in Germany (Munich), in the U.S. (Palo Alto, CA and Boston, MA), in China (Beijing), in India (Mumbai), and is active in Israel through Siemens' regional unit. SVC is part of Siemens Financial Services and of a greater network at Siemens whose mission is to drive technological innovation by supporting start-up companies. More information can be found at: www.siemensventurecapital.com.

About Siemens Financial Services

With its roughly 1,800 employees and an international network of financial companies coordinated by Siemens Financial Services, Munich, the Siemens Financial Services (SFS) Group offers a broad range of financial services - from sales and investment financing to treasury services, venture capital, fund management and insurance brokerage. SFS's key customers are global industrial and services companies, as well as public-sector operators. For more information see: www.siemens.com/finance

About Perseus, L.L.C.

Perseus, L.L.C. is a private equity fund management company headquartered in Washington, D.C., with an office in New York and affiliate offices in Munich and New Delhi. Founded in 1995, Perseus invests in companies with which it can participate in the strategic planning, operations and development and thereby add significant value to the investment. Perseus and its affiliates manage seven investment funds with capital commitments totaling over US$1.6 billion. Perseus has been one of the most active private equity investors in the energy technology industry and has made 18 energy technology investments in such sectors as distributed generation, clean fuels, solar power, power storage, oil recycling, and grid enhancing technologies. All references in this press release to Perseus are intended to refer to Perseus, L.L.C. and its managed investment funds. For more information, visit http://www.perseusllc.com.

Web site: http://www.bplglobal.net http://www.siemens.com/finance http://www.perseusllc.com

Kati Julienne, CMO, BPL Global EMEA, +33-243-141-276, kjulienne@bplglobal.net; or Barbara Shear, Manning Selvage & Lee, +1-212-468-3154, Barbara.shear@mslpr.com