The FT is buying Deal Street Asia

The Financial Times is buying Singapore-based Deal Street Asia with a deal expected to close in April, reports Jon Russell of TechCrunch.

Russell reports, “Founded in 2014 by Indian journalist Joji Thomas Philip and Sushobhan Mukherjee, Deal Street Asia mixes Asia startup news with updates from Asia’s financial markets and business verticals. It has around a dozen reporters across Southeast Asia and India, as well as a license to use content from wires. Its investors include Singapore Press Holdings, Vijay Shekhar Sharma (the founder of Alibaba-backed Paytm), the Singapore Angel Network and Hindustan Times (the Indian media firm that operates Mint), which is a Deal Street Asia content partner.

“The company never disclosed its total fundraising, although TechCrunch wrote about an undisclosed round that closed in late 2015.

“The deal is led by Nikkei, the Japanese parent of the FT, which has agreed to buy at least one-third of Deal Street Asia, one source told TechCrunch, but the total stake could reach 51 percent (as was the case with The Next Web) depending on which investors decide to sell. A separate source said the deal, which will include a capital investment, is worth at least $5 million. That would represent a positive return for all investors with early backers potentially banking 4-5X. That’s a pretty handsome result for an investment in a media business, which are often efforts to spark an ecosystem or at least include a lower expectation on a return.”

Read more here.