Japanese media giant Nikkei now owns the FT’s print facility in Bow, east London, after buying the Financial Times (FT) Group last week from The Pearson Group, in an £844m deal. 

The FT Group includes the FT newspaper, FT.com and associated publications including How to Spend It magazine, The Banker and Money-Media.

The deal did not include Pearson's 50% share in The Economist, currently the subject of discussions about a potential sale, or its central London office One Southwark Bridge.

Nikkei publishes Japan’s leading business paper The Nikkei and associated publications, as well as books and magazines. It also owns digital media and broadcasting brands.

The print facility, formerly called Newsfax (Bow), was saved by the FT following its administration in 2012, when the paper group, using its dormant St Clements Press subsidiary, moved in as a third-party operator working with administrators BDO. 

It now prints 17 additional publications alongside the FT.

An FT spokeswoman said: “St Clements Press forms part of the FT Group and was included in the recent sale to Nikkei. There are currently no plans to sell or close it." 

She added: “Since taking control of the Bow site in December 2012 under the name of St Clements Press, the FT has transformed the business into a profitable operation by reducing costs and winning contracts to print 17 other independent publications.”

Meanwhile FT journalists have written to their new employers asking for written guarantees of editorial independence, which were missing from the deal, according to Press Gazette.

Members of officially sanctioned union the NUJ called for “an open dialogue” with Nikkei, an employee-owned organisation, and a continuation of the tradition of meetings between management and staff.

“Importantly, many FT journalists would like to see editorial independence enshrined in our governance, with all staff playing a part in this process,” the letter reads.

Nikkei chairman Tsuneo Kita and president Naotoshi Okada gave assurances about the future of the FT to journalists in a separate letter on Friday, which said: “The Financial Times will continue to enjoy complete editorial independence and freedom, just as all news organisations should have.

“We hope that John Ridding and his management team will continue to lead the trustworthy pink paper into this new chapter."

In 2013 the FT moved resources into pushing its digital offering, which included a staff restructure, job losses and estimated savings of £1.6m that year.

The FT reported on the 23 July that it had been in discussions with German publisher Axel Springer for a year before Nikkei came in with a rival bid over the past five weeks.

The FT’s combined print and digital circulation has risen more than 30% over five years to 737,000. Pearson said the FT Group contributed £334m of sales and £24m of adjusted operating income to Pearson last year.

Specialist education publisher Pearson has been developing more business in education services in recent years, with speculation on a sale of the FT circulating for some time. 

In a statement, chief executive John Fallon said: “Pearson has been a proud proprietor of the FT for nearly 60 years. But we’ve reached an inflection point in media, driven by the explosive growth of mobile and social.

"In this new environment, the best way to ensure the FT’s journalistic and commercial success is for it to be part of a global, digital news company."