ON THE MONEY
STUART THEOBALD: Tencent’s dominance of Naspers causes a few problems for fund managers and JSE
‘The growth of Naspers, on a lucky bet on a Chinese internet start-up in 2001, has transformed the JSE’
Who knew that in just seven years, the JSE would go from a heavily mining-biased exchange to one dominated by the Chinese internet industry? With the change have come headaches for investment strategists and the broader role of the JSE as a bellwether for the health of the economy. The growth of Naspers, on a lucky bet on a Chinese internet start-up in 2001, has transformed the JSE. With a market capitalisation of R1.3-trillion, Naspers is now by far the largest South African-headquartered company listed on the JSE, almost four times that of the next-largest South African-based counter, First-Rand. Naspers alone is now more valuable than the entire mining index. But, by some measures, it is still undervalued.The 35% stake it holds in China’s Tencent is worth R1.8-trillion, suggesting the rest of the company —consisting of pay-TV, various other internet properties around the world and some old-fashioned print media — is worth less than nothing. For the past six years, Naspers has con...
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