JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s Naspers said on Thursday it would sell 2% of its shares in China’s Tencent Holdings to reinforce its balance sheet and to accelerate growth, sending its shares down 3 percent.
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Naspers, which owns a third of the fast-growing Chinese company, said it planned to sell 190 million Tencent shares reducing its stake to 31.2 percent.
Naspers shares fell 3.21% to R3,348 by 10:07am.
It
is believed that Tencent sale shares will be offered to institutional investors
globally. Furthermore,
funds from the offering will be invested over time to accelerate growth of
classifieds, online food delivery and fintech businesses.
Naspers logo.
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“The funds will be used to reinforce Naspers’ balance sheet and will be invested over time to accelerate the growth of our classifieds, online food delivery and fintech businesses globally and to pursue other exciting growth opportunities when they arise,” Naspers said, according to Bloomberg.
Naspers Chief Executive Officer Bob Van Dijk has been trying to reduce the gap between its stake in Tencent and the value of Africa’s largest company, Bloomberg reported.