PropertyGuru ventures into the offline space

Online property portal group PropertyGuru is venturing offline as it buys over the real estate media businesses from Ensign Media, a publishing company headquartered in Singapore.The purchase includes Property Report, a regional luxury property and lifestyle magazine and website that publishes news and insights on such investment destinations. The acquisition of the Ensign businesses will strengthen PropertyGuru’s integrated property media capability. PropertyGuru’s 14 million users and Property Report’s 70,000 online and offline readers, will have combined access to PropertyGuru’s 600 monthly research and news articles published in three languages across four markets, and Property Report’s 100 plus online features per month.The acquisition also gives PropertyGuru rights over Asia Property Awards, a regional property industry award held in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam annually.According to a press statement, these new businesses will complement PropertyGuru’s existing ventures by combining the reach of PropertyGuru and Ensign. In addition, PropertyGuru aims to provide real estate advertisers across Asia regional branding capabilities across multiple platforms through one single property media partner.Steve Melhuish, CEO and co-founder of PropertyGuru, said, “This latest acquisition strengthens the Group’s content, geographic reach and services we provide to real estate developers regionally […] In the next ten to fifteen years, we expect increasing cross-border movements and foreign investments, creating more demand for properties in these markets.”Founded by Terry Blackburn and Duncan Worthington in 2003 and headquartered in Singapore, Ensign began publishing Property Report in 2004. Focusing on high-end real estate in the region, and international investment opportunities for readers, Property Report is now a bi-monthly print magazine distributed across ASEAN and Hong Kong via newsstands, five star hotels, airport lounges and direct mail. The existing staff of Ensign will now be absorbed into PropertyGuru.Ensign’s founder, Terry Blackburn, who will be joining PropertyGuru to continue to drive growth in the Asia Property Awards and Property Report, said, “Over the past 10 years, Property Report has established an expertise in providing its readership with the latest insights on luxury property investment in Asia, and we are very excited about this next stage. The Asia Property Awards are already the region’s largest and most respected real estate awards and now, with PropertyGuru’s support, they will be even bigger in 2016 and the years ahead.”