Indian startups backer Naspers to list int’l biz

Bengaluru: Naspers, the largest shareholder in some of the biggest Indian internet companies like online travel portal MakeMyTrip and food delivery player Swiggy, has said it is listing the international investments — including the India portfolio — on Euronext Amsterdam.

The development comes as Naspers emerged one of the most aggressive investors in India in 2018, deploying $1 billion across Swiggy and education technology company Byju’s.

Naspers will own 75% in the new listed company, which is yet to be named, and is expected to be the largest consumer internet company listed in Europe. The listing is expected to be completed by the second half of 2019.

“We continue to see India as a very exciting and important market and this announcement does not alter that view or change our strategy in India,” said Shamiela Letsoalo, media relations director at Naspers, in an emailed response to TOI’s queries, confirming that the listed company will house all of Naspers’ interests in India.

Till now, Naspers has invested close to $3 billion in India, and also owns financial technology company PayU and classifieds platform Olx. The company also made $2.2 billion on its $612-million investment in online retailer Flipkart, which was acquired by US retail giant Walmart last year. Naspers has been putting about 20% of new capital in India on average every year for the last decade, making it the biggest market for its overseas investment.

But the biggest asset in the spin-out will be Naspers’ stake in Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent, where the South African media giant holds about a 33% stake worth over $130 billion. However, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Naspers’ own market capitalisation is around $100 billion — less than the value of its stake in Tencent — and the latest move is aimed at plugging this gap.

In India, Naspers has four major areas of strategic focus — food delivery, online classifieds, financial technology and education technology — in all of which it has backed large players. But it is also looking at some new areas and recently invested $15 million in QuikRide, a car and bike pooling startup based out of Bengaluru.

In the past, Naspers has effected several consolidations in the Indian internet market — both in online travel and payments space. In 2013, it acquired bus ticketing platform redBus which it merged with Ibibo, an online travel firm it incubated in 2007. In 2016, it merged Ibibo with market leader MakeMyTrip and became its largest shareholder.

Naspers also owns online payments gateway PayU, for which it acquired Citrus Payments in 2016 for $130 million. The combined entity has emerged as one of the largest payments gateway players and was valued at $5.1 billion, according to a report by Citi, which attributed half of the valuation to the India business.