Birmingham, Alabama and Toronto, Ontario – 03 June, 2015 – Kirchner Group is pleased to announce that it has established a unique and multi-faceted relationship with Lucky Iron Fish (LIF). The Lucky Iron Fish is a simple, affordable, commercial and social enterprise dedicated to help end iron deficiency anemia initially in Cambodia and subsequently around the world. Boiling food or water with a Lucky Iron Fish can provide entire families with up to 75% of their daily-required iron intake – improving everything from energy levels to cognitive function. One fish will benefit the whole family and can last for five years.

The Kirchner Group has been involved with Lucky Iron Fish since Gavin Armstrong, CEO of LIF was chosen as the first Entrepreneurial Fellow with the Kirchner Food Fellowship. Gavin was selected based on the alignment of interests between the Fellowship’s mandate and The Lucky Iron Fish. Subsequently The Food Security Group, the agricultural impact arm of Kirchner Group, made an investment to help scale up the company in order to more rapidly proliferate this needed solution around the globe. Kirchner Group will now work in an advisory role providing its expertise to LIF as it concludes controlled field trials in Cambodia, and prepares to accelerate IP development and commercial expansion of their global health company.

“The knowledge and insight that Kirchner Group has provided us already has been invaluable to Lucky Iron Fish,” stated Gavin. “We are entering a very significant period of growth and commercialization and I am confident that with the help of Kirchner Group we will take the Lucky Iron Fish to the next level. Kirchner is an integral partner if we are to reach our goal of ‘a fish in every pot’ and end the most prevalent nutritional disorder in the world.”

Kirchner Group has a significant focus on ‘impact activities’ primarily across four sectors: Agriculture/Food, Health/Life Science, Energy/Resources as well as Education. Kirchner defines ‘impact activities’ as those with the intention to generate a measurable, sustainable, beneficial, social and/or environmental improvement. The model leverages the various Kirchner Group entities to capitalize on their inherent synergies to provide a balanced and appropriate service offering for commercially viable and socially responsible businesses, such as Lucky Iron Fish.

“We are excited to have such a multi-faceted relationship with LIF. Their business and product aligns with our corporate values and mandate for involvement in impact activities,” added W.B. (Bud) Kirchner, Founder and CEO of Kirchner Group. “We have a long track record of enhancing value in growth stage companies particularly in the Agriculture and Food sector, stemming back to our roots, 30 years ago. We are happy to be so intimately involved in such a promising business that also addresses a fundamental social need.”

Kirchner Group’s Steve Dauphin, who is a Managing Partner in The Food Security Group as well as a Director with the Kirchner Food Fellowship, will also join the Lucky Iron Fish Board of Directors. Steve will be the primary liaison between Kirchner Group and Lucky Iron Fish.

Kirchner Group
The Kirchner Group believes that every business, and every portfolio of businesses, can be made more valuable and that none should become valueless, regardless of the circumstances. Kirchner Group’s proprietary platform is built on the premise that pairing deep domain expertise with process experts provides superior results. Kirchner Group has provided traditional merchant banking services since 1985 and offers advisory, operational and transactional support to companies as well as asset management services for institutional investors. The group’s clients and partners range from promising entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies and their investors. Kirchner Group also manages assets for some of the largest insurance companies, commercial banks and institutional investors in the world. www.kirchnergroup.com

Steve Dauphin
Managing Partner
Food Security Group
205.602.9845
sdauphin@fundthefood.com

Lucky Iron Fish
The Lucky Iron Fish™ is a safe, effective, easy-to-use solution for iron deficiency. It is simply a piece of iron that you cook with that releases the iron you need and is reusable for up to 5 years. Why a fish? The fish is a symbol of lucky in Cambodia, the country that inspired this health innovation – as well as being the country in which Lucky Iron Fish operates and invests, improving both the health and wealth of Cambodians. Iron deficiency impacts 3.5 billion people worldwide and the Lucky Iron Fish is an incredibly simple solution to this global health problem. www.luckyironfish.com

Tania Framst
Vice-President Operations
Lucky Iron Fish
647.237.3474
t.framst@luckyironfish.com