V3 Group’s Health and Wellness Supplements Brand LAC Acquires MASQUELIER’S® French Pine Bark Extract; Continues Business Expansion Across East Asia, the Middle East and Africa

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 18 August 2026 – V3 Group Limited, the Singapore-based holding company with a diversified portfolio spanning well-being, luxury gourmet, capital markets, real estate, and integrated healthcare services segments, announced today that its health and wellness supplements arm, LAC Global ("LAC"), has completed the acquisition of MASQUELIER'S® French Pine Bark Extract ("MASQUELIER'S®"). By acquiring MASQUELIER'S® patented technology, LAC brings over 70 years of pioneering European nutritional science into its portfolio, combining proven scientific heritage with an Asian platform to build a mass-premium wellness proposition for global consumer.

V3 Group’s Health and Wellness Supplements Brand LAC Acquires MASQUELIER’S® French Pine Bark Extract; Continues Business Expansion Across East Asia, the Middle East and Africa

Rooted in the work of renowned French scientist Professor Jack Masquelier, a pioneer in the research and development of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), MASQUELIER'S® is distinguished by its proprietary fingerprinted format's extraction expertise, and decades of scientific research into the antioxidant properties of OPCs, supported by clinical studies.

Ron Sim, Founder and Executive Chairman, V3 Group, said, "Health is becoming one of the defining priorities for consumers globally. People are living longer, but the opportunity is to help them live better. The acquisition of MASQUELIER'S® brings decades of European nutritional science into LAC, strengthening the scientific foundation of our portfolio. Singapore remains our home market, and we are grateful for the trust our customers have placed in us over the years. We remain committed to serving them through our extensive retail presence across Singapore's malls, even as we take LAC into new markets and pursue our ambition to build a health and wellness brand born in Asia for consumers globally."

MASQUELIER'S® is also the originator and trademark holder of MASQUELIER'S® Anthogenol, one of the most widely recognised OPC supplement brands across Asia Pacific. LAC's acquisition extends beyond a single product line to bring the foundational intellectual property and scientific heritage behind an established category into its portfolio. To date, MASQUELIER'S® French Pine Bark Extract has sold over 250 million tablets, making it one of LAC's most significant and enduring product platforms across its Asian markets.

Accelerating LAC Global's Regional Expansion

LAC has continued to accelerate its regional expansion since the start of 2026, building on nearly three decades of organic growth across Asia Pacific. Today, LAC operates more than 250 retail stores across Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, complemented by franchise operations in Mongolia, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Its physical footprint is supported by a growing e-commerce business, extending access to LAC's portfolio of health and wellness solutions across the region. Beyond Asia, LAC products are also available in select markets across Africa, the Middle East and South America.

This expansion reflects LAC's ambition to become Asia's defining homegrown health and wellness brand. Through its directly owned retail and e-commerce network, supported by continued product innovation, LAC is making science-backed nutrition and supplementation more accessible to consumers across the region. As ageing populations, rising health consciousness and growing wellness expenditure reshape consumer priorities, LAC is well positioned to meet increasing demand for preventive health and everyday wellness solutions.

Looking ahead, LAC will deepen its presence in existing markets while pursuing new growth opportunities across Asia Pacific and internationally. Alongside its geographic expansion, LAC will continue to invest in product innovation and science-backed nutritional solutions, with a focus on preventive health, healthy ageing and the evolving wellness needs of consumers.

As LAC's parent company, V3 Group will continue to support its growth through strategic capital, operational capabilities and regional connectivity. Across its broader portfolio, V3 Group remains focused on businesses with strong fundamentals and long-term growth potential, with the aim of building category-leading brands and platforms from Asia for the world.

Hashtag: #LAC #V3Group

https://www.lac.com/en/home

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About LAC Global

Headquartered in Singapore, LAC Global is one of Asia's largest specialty retailers in nutritional supplements, vitamins, minerals, herbal, and other specialty supplements in Anti-ageing and Beauty, Immunity, Weight Management, Sports Nutrition, and Energy.

The Company owns the LAC brand, short for Leader in Antioxidative Control™, a leading health and wellness supplement brand with a global presence. Since its founding, LAC has embarked on a pioneering journey to develop scientifically based formulas, harnessing the best of eastern wisdom and western technology to fight free radicals, combat ageing brought forth by oxidative stress, and support you daily in looking, feeling, and functioning at your best. Having established a global presence since 1997, LAC's reach includes Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, U.S., Central and South Americas, Africa and the Middle East.

About V3 Group

V3 Group is a Singapore-based holding company with a globally diversified portfolio that includes leading brands and businesses in the well-being, luxury gourmet, capital markets, real estate, and integrated healthcare services segments.

The Group is guided by three Vs – the Vision to create exceptional brands of distinctive quality, nurtured by leaders with Valour, and anchored by our Values of innovation, ownership, and excellence. V3 refers to these three core qualities, as well as the three units that drive our growth – V3 Assets, V3 Brands, V3 Capital.

Collectively, our brands and businesses engage over 3 million customers worldwide with a combined footprint of over 5,000 retail touchpoints in 118 cities across 26 countries.

The Group has its roots in the iconic OSIM brand founded by visionary entrepreneur Ron Sim over 40 years ago. A pioneer in well-being technology in Asia, Ron has forged ahead on the success of OSIM to create valuable brands and assets in sectors that include e-commerce, nutrition, gourmet lifestyle, real estate assets and integrated healthcare services.

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With 1.93 million tertiary-educated workers in roles below their qualification level, employment alone may no longer be an adequate measure of career progress.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 18 August 2026 – Malaysia's labour market has remained resilient, with overall unemployment falling to 2.9% in the first quarter of 2026. However, the figures may conceal a deeper challenge faced by qualified workers who may be employed without meaningfully progressing in their careers. During the same period, 1.93 million tertiary-educated workers, or 35.2%, were employed in semi-skilled or low-skilled roles.

This points to a gap between employment and career progression, particularly whether the workers' qualifications and experience are helping them move into more skilled, complex and higher-values roles.

"We need to shift the conversation from employability to career mobility. Being employed is not the same as progressing," said Lim Bee Ing, Centre Director of The University of Manchester South East Asia Centre. "For experienced professionals in Malaysia, progression increasingly requires the ability to lead across functions, make strategic decisions and navigate change. Purposeful postgraduate education can help build those capabilities."

Evidence across Manchester's MBA programmes also points to rising cross-field mobility rather than individual employment factors like qualification alone. Its latest MBA employment report found that 59% of the 2024 class changed sector, while 27% changed country, industry and job function.

Experience alone does not guarantee progress

For working professionals, career mobility depends on more than time spent in a role. Both workplace experience and postgraduate education can support progression when they help build broader capabilities, prepare professionals for more complex work and lead to greater responsibility.

Experience builds capability when professionals encounter new problems, assume higher responsibilities and make increasingly complex decisions. Years spent performing largely the same scope of work, however, may not translate into equivalent professional growth.

Similarly, a Master's can support progression when it is linked to a clear career transition, such as moving from a specialist to a managerial role, changing functions or industries, taking on regional responsibilities, or leading digital and organisational transformation. It is less likely to deliver meaningful results when pursued as a standalone credential or with the expectation of an automatic promotion or salary increase.

"For experienced professionals, the value of an MBA is not simply in acquiring more knowledge, but in seeing their experience through a broader business lens," said Xavier Duran, Global MBA Programme Director at Alliance Manchester Business School. "That broader perspective can help prepare them for the next stage of their career, whether that means moving into leadership, changing function or industry, or even taking on greater international responsibility."

Preparing professionals for changing employer needs

Employer expectations are also evolving. Communication, problem-solving and strategic thinking remain important, while organisations increasingly require professionals who can interpret data, understand technology and navigate the impact of artificial intelligence.

As these demands reshape the workplace, an individual can remain technically qualified and continuously employed while becoming less prepared for their next role.

Studying while working can help bridge this gap by allowing professionals to apply new concepts directly to live organisational challenges. It also enables them to examine their experience critically and connect their existing expertise with wider areas such as strategy, finance, people and technology.

The Manchester Global Part-time MBA follows this model through flexible learning, interactive workshops and practical business projects for experienced professionals. Their applicants enter with an average of 12 years of professional experience, including six years in management, underscoring that the programme is designed to build on established careers rather than replace workplace experience.

Postgraduate education is not for salary increase alone

Career progression should be looked at beyond just salary benchmarking. More meaningful indicators include movement into higher-skilled work, broader decision-making responsibility, access to regional or international opportunities and the ability to lead more complex projects.

Malaysia has made progress in helping graduates enter and remain in the workforce. The next priority should be to turn employment into sustained progression, ensuring that talent continues to develop and move into work that makes fuller use of its capabilities.

More information on the MA in Educational Leadership in Practice (ELiP) is available at www.manchester.com.my/ma-educational-leadership-in-practice/.

Hashtag: #UniversityofManchester

http://www.manchester.com.my/ma-educational-leadership-in-practice/

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About The University of Manchester & Alliance Manchester Business School

The University of Manchester is ranked 35th in the world by QS World University Rankings 2026, 5th in the UK research powerhouse in REF 2021 and 2nd in THE Impact ranking 2025. With as many as 26 Nobel Prize winners, the University’s academic pedigree is among the best globally.

Alliance Manchester Business School, part of the University of Manchester, is one of the UK’s leading business schools and holds triple accreditation from AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS. The university has a global alumni network and more than 60,000 graduates across 176 countries.

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