Naspers Ltd. is keen to continue its search for e-commerce and tech investments, with Africa\u2019s biggest company happy to deploy a sizable war chest in its hunt for deals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have several billion in cash and underutilized credit facilities,\u201d\u00a0Naspers Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk said in an interview with Bloomberg. \u201cWe have room to invest in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naspers has become one of the world\u2019s largest investors in e-commerce ventures, as well as Africa\u2019s largest pay-TV provider, as it tries to build on the success of its early stage investment in Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. \u2014 a company now worth $472 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn time, Naspers could become an even better investment alternative than Tencent,\u201d said Gerrit Smit, head of Stonehage Fleming Equity Management. \u201cNaspers is currently in a heavy investment cycle and spending money on building substance in emerging market e-commerce and other online businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Dijk has been accumulating internet technology acquisitions since taking the helm from Chairman Koos Bekker in 2014. Over two rounds in May and September, Naspers\u00a0invested 1.05 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in Germany\u2019s Delivery Hero AG, and has been involved in 14 deals worth $1.94 billion this year alone, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
Much of this deal spree has been funded by the sale of Polish online auction site Allegro for $3.25 billion last year. Although Van Dijk added that future investments will be \u201copportunistic,\u201d there is no indication spending will slow down. \u201cWe\u2019ve been traditionally been focused on growth markets,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s still true. But on the other hand we are looking at growth opportunities regarding geography.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naspers\u2019 ventures arm, with offices in Amsterdam, Delhi and San Francisco, has been busy collecting e-commerce companies. Investments this year include leading an $80 million investment in Indian food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy in May, and in January leading the $175 million funding round in Letgo, the U.S. online used goods marketplace.<\/p>\n
Although in different geographies, many of Naspers\u2019 investments focus on similar sectors, such as Letgo and Delivery Hero. Van Dijk said that he might look at consolidating some of these investments, if the \u201copportunity came up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside e-commerce,\u00a0Van Dijk flagged fintech as a particular area of focus. In October Naspers announced that its fintech investment division PayU led a\u00a0$115 million investment round in Remitly, a digital remittance startup in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Not everyone thinks continuing its venture capital spree is the best allocation of Naspers\u2019 resources. Instead it should buy back its own shares to take advantage of the discount between its share price and the value of its stake in Tencent, according to veteran emerging markets investor Mark Mobius.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation right now is that all the internet companies are very pricey,\u201d Mobius said.<\/p>\n
Naspers shares rose 0.8 percent to 3,600.57 rand as of 10:35 a.m. in Johannesburg on Tuesday, valuing the company at 1.6 trillion rand ($111 billion). The stock has surged 79 percent this year, the best performer on the FTSE\/JSE Africa Top40 Index.<\/p>\n