Naspers becomes Africa's biggest company by market value

Naspers Ltd. has now become Africa’s biggest publicly traded company by market value, thanks to the bonds they sold to fund emerging market internet acquisitions.

The newspaper, TV and e-commerce operator raised $1.2 billion partly to fund purchases, the South African company said in a July 15 statement. The yield on the notes, due in 2025, has fallen 29 basis points to 5.21% since it was sold last week.

The company have been aggressively scouring the globe for new internet acquisitions as consumers make the switch to mobile and smart devices for operations such as shopping, banking, among other things.

However, Naspers has an impressive portfolio that cuts across various industry, including internet media brands such OLX, Flikkart, Allegro, Ibibo; TV media houses such as SuperSport, MultiChoice; MWEB, which is an internet service provider, and Media24, a print media company.

Naspers, under the leadership of billionaire Chairman Koos Bekker, is scouring the globe for new Internet acquisitions that will capitalize on the switch by consumers to smart devices for shopping, banking and other services.

The company, which owns a 34% stake in Chinese Internet operator Tencent Holdings Ltd. worth about $64 billion, has online-service interests in about 40 countries and is Africa’s biggest seller of pay TV.

Credit: Additional files from techloy.com