REV Asia is partly owned by Youth Asia, meaning this deal involved three of Malaysia’s biggest names in Patrick Grove, Khailee Ng and Joel Noeh

Media Prima Digital, a subsidiary of the Malaysian media giant Media Prima, is set to purchase REV Asia Holdings, a digital media startup owned by Catcha Group and Youth Asia, for the MYR104 million (US$23.9 million).

The deal is pending the successful fulfilment of a Sales and Purchases Agreement.

The sale involves three of the most famous entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Patrick Grove is the Co-founder and Chairman of Catcha Group while Youth Asia was built by 500 Startup’s Khailee Ng and Fave’s Joel Neoh.

The deal will fully incorporate REV Asia into into Media Prima’s digital platform — and in doing so makes the platform the largest Malaysian digital media company. Media Prima’s digital reach is estimated to reach 10.4 million people and puts it in third-place behind Facebook’s reach of 15.7 million users and Google’s 14.1 million visitors.

The comparison to Facebook and Google is apt, as REV Asia’s core business is melding social media marketing with events, publishing and events to create a 360 degree advertising strategy. Besides Malaysia, the company has presence in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Rev Asia Holdings is publicly listed on the the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad.  Rumours of the sale began to leak out this morning and the stock price has jumped 16 per cent, although the official announcement hit the news after trading hours and the price was flat after the morning spike.

REV Asia Managing Director Voon Tze Khay said the company wants to expand its reach to become the top digital media company in Malaysia.

“Media Prima are true leaders in Malaysia’s media and television industry with a strong track record of success. Together, we are confident in our ability to expand our reach whilst solidifying our combined position as the number one digital media group in the country,” he said.

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As for Media Prima Digital, the company CEO Encik Rafiq Razali pointed to significant revenue from the Social News feature (8share  financially incentives users to share articles on social media). Razali also mentioned high margins from content marketing.

“This bodes well for the Group as we capitalise on the increasing importance of digital amongst advertisers,” he said.

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Media Prima Digital Chief Financial Officer Encik Mohamaad Ariff Ibrahim said he expects the acquisition to result in a significant increase in Media Prima Digital’s overall contribution to the parent company’s total revenue.

REV Asia was created in 2013 after a merger with SAYS.com worth MYR60 million (US$13.8 million). SAYS.com was built by Ng and Neoh.

A couple of months ago, Catcha Group made a splash when the firm announced it would be leading the development of a digital hub in Malaysia’s newly announced Digital Free Trade Zone.

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Photos courtesy of Catcha Group.

 

 

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