The Biggest Internet Company In Europe Is Now Owned By Africa ’s Most Valuable Company 

This is a big shot from Naspers, Africa ’s most valuable company, which in terms of GDP, would be richer than the West African country of Liberia. In its latest move, Naspers has listed its international internet assets on Amsterdam’s stock exchange. By doing so, it has carved out the biggest consumer internet company in Europe.

“There’s this great pent-up demand for great technology and internet companies,” Naspers CFO Basil Sgourdos said. “We’re now the largest — we’re actually three times larger than the next biggest tech company and that will attract lots of interest”.

Here Is All You Need To Know

  • On the Euronext Stock Exchange, Amsterdam Netherlands, Naspers’ new company is called Prosus. This week, upon listing, it got a valuation of $105 billion. By far, these figures have now made it the largest ever Europe ‘s consumer publicly listed internet company. Far off the tech board on the exchange, overall, Prosus is now the third most valuable company listed on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam.
  • Each of the company’s shares soared as much as 29% on its first day of trading.
  • Naspers is smarter anyway; it is only floating 27% of Prosus, holding onto the remaining 73% stakes. 
  • Apart from Prosus, Naspers owns a third of Chinese tech giant Tencent. Its stake in Tencent is valued at $130bn.
  • Prosus is holding many Naspers’ assets including Naspers’ Tencent stake as as well as investments in Swiggy, the Indian e-commerce startup and Mail.Ru, a major Russian internet platform. 
  • Naspers’ smart international moves include more than doubling its $616 million investment in Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce company, when it sold its 11% stake for $1.6 billion last year. 
  • Prosus will trade on Euronext with “PRX” as its ticker.
  • Prosus also houses Naspers other inter assets, which include all of its interests in online classifieds, food delivery, payments, etail, travel, education, and social and internet platforms sectors. Apart from Tencent, these include mail.ru, OLX, Avito, letgo, PayU, iFood, Swiggy, DeliveryHero, Udemy, eMAG, and MakeMyTrip.

Why Is Naspers Listing All of These Assets In Amsterdam, Netherlands?

Naspers reasons for listing all of these assets may not be unconnected with its size on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where asset managers were cautious about their exposure to a single share. 

Listing on Euronext, Amsterdam will therefore give the internet giant an opportunity for “opening up investment to a broader category of investors,” says CEO Bob van Dijk, while diminishing the valuation gap between Naspers and Tencent.

Naspers brands
Read also: Africa’s Biggest Company Is Investing Over $30 Million in U.S. Education Platform

From A South African Newspaper Publisher To A Global Brand

Naspers’ success stems from a vertical change in strategy. Originally a newspaper publisher, Prosus’ listing comes as part of its long-term strategy to transform the century-old newspaper publisher into “a global consumer internet company.”

The net effect of the Prosus listing will also be felt in South Africa as it trims Naspers’ weighting on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to 15% — down from around 25%. Being listed only in South Africa had limited Naspers’ pool of accessible capital and its dominance on the local stock exchange also constrained local investment managers.

From the pie chart above it is clear that majority of revenue for Naspers comes from Internet services, which contributed 69.34% to NPN’s revenue, second biggest revenue earner was E-commerce with 15.2% or $1.987 billion dollars followed by video entertainment, with 14.1% or $1.834 billion.

In a more strategic move, earlier this year, Naspers appointed Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, 48, as its new chief executive of its South African unit. This appointment makes her the first ever female and first black chief executive of the 104-year old company. Mahanyele-Dabengwa, previously chief executive of Shanduka Group, an investment company founded by Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, will lead Naspers’ drive for major African tech startup wins with a $314 million fund announced last October.

She will also oversee Naspers Labs, a social impact and skills acquisition initiative for South Africa’s unemployed youth, and to Bob van Dijk, group CEO of Naspers.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.