DURBAN – Naspers share price fell by more than 30 percent on the JSE today after the South African media giant completed a successful listing of its subsidiary Prosus on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
The share price declined to R2 390.26 a share on Wednesday morning, down from Tuesday’s closing price of R3 522.82. However, it recovered some of the losses in the afternoon to trade around R2 425.98.
WATCH:
Video by: Chelsea Lotz, Business Report TV
Nishlen Govender, a portfolio manager at Citadel, said Naspers’ decline was fully expected following the separate listing of Prosus.
“A company splitting itself or divesting part of itself typically results in the reduction of its share price. It can be thought of as a distribution of value, similar to a dividend. In this case, shareholders were compensated for this loss in value through the allocation of Prosus stock.
"The Prosus shares investors received came in a 1:1 form, implying that for every Naspers share owned, investors also received a Prosus share,” Govender said.
Bob van Dijk, Group chief executive of Prosus and Naspers, said the listing of Prosus was an exciting step forward for the group.
“The listing on Euronext Amsterdam provides a strong foundation for our future growth ambitions. We will continue to seek opportunities to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to address big societal needs, and to create value for our shareholders,” said van Dijk.
Prosus, worth $105 billion on listing, will hold assets including a 31 percent stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings.
Prosus shares were also down by 2.5 percent to R1 208 on the JSE.