Naspers, through its M-Web International Holdings (MIH) subsidiary, has appointed the Hong Kong branch of US investment bank Goldman Sachs to advise them for the future listing of its Chinese instant messaging joint venture, Tencent.
Naspers head of investor relations Beverly Branford confirmed this today, however, she refused to disclose where and when such an IPO (initial public offering) would take place.
The giant SA media group currently owns 50% of Tencent, with the balance owned by the five original founders, including the chairman and chief executive officer Pony Ma.
Naspers originally bought a 46.5% stake in 2001 for $34 million, but late last year Tencent bought back some minority stakes and this caused Naspers` holdings to increase.
Tencent has developed and supports the "QQ" instant messaging (IM) software, arguably the most used service of its type in that country.
IM has failed to take off in South Africa despite M-Web having launched it here in early 2002.
According to Branford, QQ has an estimated 230 million people who have signed up to use its services. About 60 million users are active over a two month period, of which about 22 million have signed up for one of the value-added services such as dating and online gaming.
"With a potential market of about 1.2 billion people, it makes sense for us to pursue opportunities in China," Branford says.
Last year Tencent`s turnover exceeded $36 million (R234 million) and it earned an operating profit of $22 million (R143 million).
Share
