Prosus NV is considering selling certain units through an initial public offering as part of the investment company’s plans to raise shareholder returns and become profitable.
(Bloomberg) — Prosus NV is considering selling certain units through an initial public offering as part of the investment company’s plans to raise shareholder returns and become profitable.
“We are actively working on multiple situations which will span both listing businesses as well as mergers and sales,” Prosus Chief Investment Officer Ervin Tu said in an interview. “The market can expect to see much more from us in the coming months.”
This will include the expansion of its existing businesses and the reduction of costs, Tu said.
The e-commerce firm has been working on narrowing the discount between the sum of its parts and its stake in China’s Tencent for years, with both Prosus and its Cape Town-based parent Naspers Ltd. already having taken a number of steps to address the problem.
These include the spin-off of the African PayTV business, the creation of Prosus through the Euronext-listing of the internet companies, a share swap between Naspers and Prosus, and a number of share buybacks.
With assets which include food delivery, travel bookings and online education sites across the world, Prosus plans to continue the buyback program at scale, Tu said. It may also use some of its $20 billion cash to buy companies on the cheap from private firms that are struggling, he said.
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