Investors piled into Naspers Ltd.\u2019s newly listed Dutch unit, holding assets including a lucrative stake in Tencent Holdings Ltd., sending its shares soaring on their trading debut in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Prosus NV, as the new company is known, jumped 29% above its reference price as of 08h04 to value the group at around 123 billion euros ($136 billion). Naspers is retaining a 73% stake.<\/p>\n
Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk planned the move to ease the company\u2019s dominance of Johannesburg\u2019s stock exchange and attract more international investors to what\u2019s become a global group.<\/p>\n
The Cape Town-based company has long been valued at less than its $128 billion Tencent stake, and a key reason for the Prosus spinoff is to narrow that gap.<\/p>\n
International investors<\/strong><\/p>\n The listing is designed to achieve two main objectives for Cape Town-based Naspers.<\/p>\n First, CEO Bob van Dijk wants to attract more international investors to assign more value to the company\u2019s non-Tencent assets, which the market rates at less than zero.<\/p>\n Second, the spinoff will reduce Naspers\u2019s dominance of Johannesburg\u2019s stock exchange, where it\u2019s by far the biggest company.<\/p>\n “Outside of Tencent, Naspers\u2019 biggest asset is its exposure to online classifieds,\u201d said Alastair Jones, an analyst at New Street Research in London.<\/p>\n \u201cThe business is monetizing in 10 countries and already reports $875 million of revenues, with the potential to begin monetizing in another 20 countries. The opportunity is therefore massive, and execution is key.\u201d<\/p>\n