If you have a choice to buy Tencent or Naspers, buy Naspers, Mark Mobius says
The veteran emerging-markets investor says Naspers should buy back its own shares to take advantage of the discount between it and its stake in China’s Tencent
Naspers should buy back its own shares to take advantage of the discount between Africa’s biggest company and its stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent, according to veteran emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius. That would be a better use of funds than the Cape Town-based company’s current strategy of buying global e-commerce businesses, the chairperson of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, an investor in Naspers, said in an interview on Tuesday. "While we like Naspers, we would like to see them be more careful with capital investment," Mobius, 81, said in Johannesburg. "I realize they want to acquire companies around the world, but at this point in time it would be better for them to buy their own shares. They are selling at a discount." Naspers has piggybacked on Tencent to become Africa’s biggest company by market value and one of the world’s largest investors in e-commerce ventures from Mail.Ru in Russia to iFood in Brazil. Its 33% stake in WeChat creator Tencent, bought for $...
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