Prosus Says Analysts Value Non-Tencent Assets at $50 Billion

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prosus NV said analysts have valued its global portfolio of e-commerce assets at about $50 billion, excluding the stake in Hong Kong’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. — well above the market rate.

The investment firm, which has spent heavily on internet payments, food delivery, education and more around the world, is looking to boost that figure to $100 billion over the next three years, Chief Executive Officer Bob van Dijktold reporters on Monday. That would compare with $13 billion in 2016.    “We have been growing our e-commerce portfolio now at a very rapid pace for a long time,” he said. “I think in the end that is going to turn into value crystalization.”

The company and its parent, Cape Town-based Naspers Ltd., have long battled to narrow a valuation discount between the perceived sum of their parts and the 29% stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent. The shareholding is worth about $176 billion at current prices, compared with Prosus’s total capitalization of $181 billion.

That implies the market rates the rest of the company at about $5 billion, or 10% of the analyst valuation. 

Prosus stock gained 0.4% as of 9:14 a.m. in Amsterdam. The shares have declined more than 12% this year, in part due to a Chinese crackdown on technology and gaming, which impacts Tencent.

Prosus’s most recent major acquisition was Indian online payments service BillDesk for about $4.6 billion, creating a digital finance giant in the Asian nation. The company has also approved initial public offerings of earlier investments, including Education technology company Udemy Inc. last month.  

Prosus and Naspers initiated a share swap earlier this year to help the latter reduce its overweight position on Johannesburg’s stock exchange and narrow the Tencent valuation gap. Prosus now owns 49.5% of its parent, which in turn holds part of the Amsterdam-listed investment group.

Prosus said first-half operating loss widened to $304 million, up from $207 million in the same period in 2020.  

Source: Bloomberg Business News

 

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