Media company Naspers is buying a 28.7% stake in Russian Internet firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST) for shares and $388 million.
Naspers says the deal is being done through a subsidiary of Myriad International Holdings (MIH), which is a subsidiary belonging indirectly to Naspers.
MIH will swap its Russian Internet communication and gaming company Mail.ru and invest another $388 million - or R2.9 billion - in cash to buy a 28.7% stake in Digital Sky.
DST is one of the largest Internet companies in the Russian-speaking market. After the deal has been concluded, DST will own more than 99.9% of Mail.ru.
DST owns ICQ, the leading instant messaging platform in Russian-speaking markets. It also holds more than 75% of Forticom, the social network operator in Russia and the Baltics; minority stakes in vKontakte, the Russian social network service; and OE, a payments platform.
Fast-track growth
The Russia-based company also has small interests in global Internet companies such as Facebook, the largest social network; Zynga, the largest provider of social games; and Groupon, a fast growing social e-commerce business.
Naspers says the deal “provides MIH with a significant stake in a leading Internet group with growth potential in Russia and deep understanding of this market”.
At the end of June, Naspers said it would focus on growing the group by adding more acquisitions to its Internet division, which outperformed all its other units in the first half of the year.
The company said revenue overall had improved 5%, to R28 billion in the six months to March. Its Internet division was the star performer, with revenue from the unit growing 24%, to R9 billion.
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