99 Group acquires real estate data provider SRX

Wed, Nov 11, 2020

Vivienne Tay

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/com...a-provider-srx

99 GROUP, which operates property portal 99.co, has acquired property platform and real estate data provider Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) for an undisclosed sum.

StreetSine Singapore, the company that operates the SRX platform and that 99 Group is acquiring, is majority owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), which publishes The Business Times.

SPH had in 2013 acquired a 60 per cent stake in StreetSine Technology, which wholly owns StreetSine Singapore, for S$30 million. The remaining shares are held by Samuel Cranage Baker and Jeremy Lee Chuen Yang, who each hold 20 per cent.

In May, both StreetSine Technology and StreetSine Singapore had applied to be placed under judicial management.

Hearings related to the judicial management application have been adjourned more than once. The last update from SPH was on Nov 5, when the Singapore High Court adjourned the hearing of applications to extend StreetSine Technology's and Street-Sine Singapore's interim judicial management orders. The applications had been fixed to be heard on Feb 1, 2021.

In response to queries from BT, an SPH spokesperson said StreetSine Technology and StreetSine Singapore have been under interim judicial management since June 22.

The interim judicial managers of the two companies "had conduct of the sale process for the StreetSine Singapore shares", and SPH was not involved in the negotiations with 99.co in relation to the reported acquisition of SRX, added the spokesperson.

In a statement on Tuesday, 99 Group has said it will retain all SRX employees. Employees will be transitioned and integrated into the 99 Group team in the coming weeks. The transaction is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2021.

The addition of SRX will widen the pool of listings, information and data tools under the 99 Group's umbrella, the latter said.

"Reliable property data is especially important as property hunting continues to shift online even though physical viewings are now allowed again, suggesting a lasting change in consumer behaviour," said 99 Group chief executive Darius Cheung. "The real estate industry needs to digitalise accordingly to meet evolving consumer needs."

SRX chief executive Jason Barakat-Brown called the two businesses and teams "highly complementary".

Separately, SPH has been in a legal dispute with StreetSine's founders Mr Baker and Mr Lee since April this year.

The SPH spokesperson said the company will not comment on any ongoing litigation.

SPH has said that StreetSine Technology and StreetSine Singapore are not significant to the group's net tangible assets, revenue or profits.

Shares of SPH closed unchanged at S$1.02 on Tuesday.