Prosus shareholders approve Naspers share purchase

PROSUS said on Friday that 53.35 percent of its shareholders approved its voluntary share exchange offer with parent company Naspers during the extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

Prosus said the transaction was approved by the requisite majority of Prosus shareholders at the EGM, excluding Naspers’s votes, after Prosus shareholders voted 53.35 percent in favour of the transaction.

Naspers and Prosus chief executive Bob van Dijk said following shareholder approval at Friday’s EGM, they were pleased to be able to offer their Naspers shareholders a voluntary share exchange.

“This enables those who wish to do so to tender some Naspers shares for Prosus shares. We believe that the transaction is a critical step in creating a capital structure expected to unlock value for both Prosus and Naspers shareholders. We look forward to continuing to deliver high growth across our consumer internet portfolio,” Van Dijk said.

Prosus is the international internet assets division of South African multinational Naspers and was unbundled from the group in 2019.

In May, Prosus and Naspers announced a share swop deal in another step in the long journey of narrowing the discount that they trade at relative to the value of their shareholding in Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Prosus was set to acquire 45.4 percent of Naspers N shares in exchange for newly issued Prosus N shares to close the gap between the underlying value of its assets and market value.

The groups expected the transaction to be implemented in the third quarter. After getting the support from the shareholders, Naspers N shareholders will now receive the opportunity to exchange Naspers ordinary shares for Prosus ordinary shares.

Koos Bekker, chairperson of Naspers, said he was grateful to all their shareholders for their wide engagement.

sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za

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