Naspers may have scored billions of rand of profit on the sale of a portion of its 17-year-long investment in Tencent but the South African taxman will see little benefit. Given the spectacular surge in the value of Tencent since Naspers acquired the shares in 2001, almost all of the $9.8bn yielded by the sale of 2% of Tencent represents a capital gain. However, because the bulk of the shares are being sold to international investors there will be minimal capital gains tax due. South African tax laws require Naspers to pay capital gains tax only on the Tencent shares sold to South African investors. The company has not revealed to whom the shares were sold but according to media reports investment bankers at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley were offering the shares to international institutional investors. In terms of South African tax law a South African company that owns more than 10% of a foreign company does not have to pay tax on any profit made selli...
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