Wednesday, 12 August 2026 · SEA Deal Ticker

SEA Deal Ticker Wed, 12 Aug

A blocked exit, a funded lab, and two corridors widening.

Beijing can unwind a Singapore company's exit: Manus AI leaves Meta, $2B deal reversed — TNGlobal · Permalink

China's National Development and Reform Commission prohibited Meta's $2 billion purchase, which had closed in December 2025. Manus operates independently again and deletes data for users who registered on or after 29 December 2025.

Positive-sum angle: Founders routing a China-rooted company through Singapore now price regulatory reach, not just residency, into an exit — and buyers who structure for it early get the cleaner deal.
A $50M seed when the investor built the company: Singapore's K2 Therapeutics raises — TNGlobal · Permalink

MPM BioImpact, which manages over $3.5 billion and founded K2 in 2024, put up the full round. K2 runs eight programmes from pre-clinical to clinical, including antibody-drug conjugates and T-cell engagers.

Positive-sum angle: Singapore gains a drug-development bench that sources assets internationally and advances them locally — clinical operations talent that stays in the region between programmes.
The freight is moving east of Jakarta: ESR and INA fund two more logistics builds — TNGlobal · Permalink

Cikarang Logistics Park 4 and the Grade A Cibitung Distribution Hub complete in 2027 and 2028. Indonesia's freight and logistics market is projected to pass $188 billion by 2031.
Undersea cable is now foreign policy: Vietnam and Australia sign a five-year digital pact — TNGlobal · Permalink

The memorandum covers AI, semiconductors, cross-border data flows, undersea cables and data centres. Two-way trade passed $14 billion in 2025, against a $20 billion target.

Positive-sum angle: A cable and data-flow framework gives Vietnamese cloud and AI firms a second export corridor that does not route through a single hyperscaler's home market.

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