Is Naspers anything without Tencent?
Undervaluing its stake in the Chinese giant, investors are impatient to see discount on other assets narrow
Naspers is the undisputed giant among SA companies with its R1.13trillion market capitalisation equal to the combined market caps of its nearest rivals, Steinhoff, FirstRand, Sasol and Vodacom. But as impressive as Naspers’s market cap may be, it should arguably be at least a third higher. This would merely bring Naspers’s market cap into line with the R1.52 trillion value of its 34% stake in Chinese online giant Tencent Holdings. Naspers paid US$33m for its Tencent stake when it acquired it in 2001. As things now stand, the market is seemingly valuing all of Naspers’s other interests, which generated total revenue of $7bn in its year to March, at a negative R390bn. This is up from a negative R178bn just four months ago. The negative valuation is even bigger if Naspers’s other listed interests are taken into account. The largest of these is a 29% stake in Russia’s biggest Internet services group, London Stock Exchange-listed Mail.Ru, worth R19.4bn. Mail.Ru reported a net profit of $...
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