Africa’s most valuable company, Naspers Ltd, secured enough votes from its shareholders to proceed with listing Prosus NV in the Dutch Stock market on September 11. On Friday, the company got a green light for its proposed spin-off and Amsterdam listing of its stake in Chinese firm – Tencent Holding Ltd.
The Tencent spinoff will ease Naspers dominance on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and allow revaluation of the company’s different portfolios.
The new listing will also attract new investors from abroad. Naspers stock constituted about 25% of JSE’s main index. As a result, South African shareholders often sell their stock due to restrictions on their funds’ exposure to a single company.
Additionally, Bloomberg notes that the listing will separate Naspers’ assets into different entities. This will allow investors to revalue the company’s portfolio. Naspers’ stake in Tencent is discounted at Ksh10 trillion ($98 billion) against its current market value of Ksh12.9 trillion ($125 billion).
Naspers will own 73% in Prosus NV after the listing in Amsterdam. At the same time, Naspers will distribute its investments in other internet firms in Germany, U.S, Brazil, and India. The new company will focus on long term value creation by building leading technology companies to improve lives.
According to Bob Van Dijk, Naspers CEO, the Tencent spinoff will provide a platform to attract incremental investor capital. At the same time, Prosus will provide an appealing opportunity for international investors to access the company’s unique portfolio.
