Naspers is ‘too big for the JSE’ and looking for new online investments
Naspers is working to reduce its exposure to the JSE as Africa’s largest company seeks to narrow its valuation gap with flagship asset Tencent Holdings. The media and internet company owns about 31% of Chinese technology giant Tencent, yet the market values the stake at about $25bn more than Naspers as a whole. Reducing the deficit has long been a priority for executives as they scour the globe for new online investment opportunities and work to turn more of its businesses profitable. "The problem is we are too large for the JSE," chair Koos Bekker said at Friday’s AGM in Cape Town. Naspers is almost four times the size of the second-largest SA-based firm on the FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index, meaning some money managers are forced to sell the company to keep their funds’ exposure below a minimum threshold, he said. Naspers CEO Bob Van Dijk is working on how to reduce the company’s exposure to the JSE, and said last month that he’s looking at spinning off various parts of the compa...
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