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SPH buys 60% stake in property data group

Published on Nov 4, 2014 1:08 AM

By Yasmine Yahya


SINGAPORE Press Holdings (SPH) has bought a 60 per cent stake in privately held Cosine Holdings in a bid to boost its offerings in property information services.

The $30 million all-cash deal was done via SPH unit SPH Interactive.

Cosine is the holding company for the StreetSine Technology Group, which consists of StreetSine Singapore, StreetSine Hong Kong and the digital platforms Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) and Hong Kong Real Estate Exchange (HRX).

StreetSine Singapore will integrate SRX and SPH's existing STProperty portal onto one digital platform that will offer consumers and real estate professionals end-to-end real-time information, property applications and other services for transacting real estate here, SPH said in a statement yesterday.

STProperty will retain its brand but will be completely integrated with SRX, HRX, srx.com.sg, and professional mobile applications, including Agent Connect, New Project Marketing and SRX Analyzer.

StreetSine co-founders Sam Baker and Jeremy Lee will maintain a combined stake of 40 per cent and will continue to run the company as chief executive and chief technology officer respectively.

"The best thing about this deal is that we're going to be integrating digital technology with traditional media channels and that will provide more transparency and efficiency on the real estate market to consumers and real estate advisers," said Mr Baker.

"For example, we have some pricing techniques, pricing indices and X-Value, a computer- generated appraisal system. Working with reporters across SPH, we can support them so they can better provide information to their readers and consumers."

SPH's senior executive vice- president of marketing, Mr Leslie Fong, called the deal a "win-win- win".

By combining SRX and STProperty, the firm can offer consumers and real estate professionals a one-stop shop for all the information they will need for property- related transactions, Mr Fong said.

The integration of StreetSine with STProperty and various SPH digital and print offerings will also create "the most far-reaching digital property listing platform in Singapore", SPH said.

It will also bring about greater return on investment to advertisers, as StreetSine and SPH can now offer shared services and marketing platforms for advertisers that enhance agent productivity and marketing of property-related services.

Furthermore, SPH noted, StreetSine brings independent and advanced software engineering capabilities to the company.

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