CAPE TOWN, South Africa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--South African-based global internet and media company, Naspers Limited (JSE: NPN.SJ and LSE: NPSN), today announced a US$201m transaction to dispose of its holdings in Netretail and Heureka to Czech-based investment firm, Rockaway Capital.
For Naspers, the transaction forms part of an ongoing strategy to optimise its group structure. Naspers acquired Netretail (a Czech-based online retailer) and eMAG (the Romanian based internet retailer) in 2012, with a plan to merge the two assets and create a leading ecommerce platform across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Diverging strategic views prevented the merger from being completed. Naspers subsequently decided to focus on eMag as its preferred etail platform in the region.
As part of the transaction, Naspers is also selling Heureka, the group’s online price comparison platform in the Czech Republic. Naspers’ other businesses in the region are unaffected by this disposal.
The transaction is subject to antitrust clearance.
About Naspers:
Founded in 1915, Naspers is a broad-based multinational internet and media group offering services in more than 130 countries. Its principal operations are in ecommerce (i.e. classifieds, online retail, marketplaces, online comparison shopping, payments and online services), video-entertainment and print media. The group also has minority investments in listed, integrated social-network platforms Tencent (SEHK 0700) and Mail.ru (LSE: MAIL). Naspers is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (NPN.SJ) and has an ADR listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: NPSN).
For more information, please visit www.naspers.com.
About Rockaway Capital:
Rockaway Capital, run by Jakub Havrlant, is a global venture capital firm with offices in San Francisco, Prague and Sao Paolo. The firm invests in high growth, transformational companies across e-commerce, B2B SaaS, Fintech and travel/transportation. Rockaway supports its portfolio through a value-creation program to build the necessary functions and competencies to help the company reach its objectives, scale globally and drive investment appreciation for investors.
About Netretail:
With 2015 revenues estimates at around €400m and over 10 million customers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia, Netretail is a leading CEE e-tailer. Founded in the Czech Republic in 2000, it was originally a home appliances e-shop, which later expanded into a number of non-food consumer verticals, including maternity, D-I-Y, pet food, fashion and others. For more information, please visit www.nrholding.com.
About Heureka:
Founded in 2007 in Jablonec nad Nisou (Czech Republic), Heureka operates online comparison search engines in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With more than 13m active products from roughly 40,000 online stores and over 2,5m unique monthly visitors, it is a leading e-commerce destination in both countries and a much-loved brand. For most of the Czech and Slovakian online buyers, Heureka is the starting point for their online shopping and a trusted purchase advisor. For thousands of online stores in these markets, Heureka represents an essential part of their marketing strategy.