Johannesburg - Naspers Group, the multinational media and technology group, was exploring whether to do an initial public offering (IPO) next year for its China-based internet instant messaging business Tencent, the group said.
Naspers's share price rose R2.02 to close at R43.02 on the JSE Securities Exchange on Friday, after the announcement that Tencent could be listed.
Naspers added that the decision to list the company on the Chinese bourse or the JSE Securities Exchange would be confirmed by the exercise, which would be completed next year.
"A final decision in relation to the IPO will depend, among other things, on market conditions prevailing at the time," the group said.
Tencent is a joint venture with MIH, which is part of the Naspers Group.
In the six months to September Tencent reported an operating profit of $21 million and $36 million in turnover.
In the same period Tencent experienced growth in the Chinese market.
It has 22 million registered internet subscribers.
The Chinese market has 60 million internet users and 240 million mobile subscribers.
With a population of 1.3 billion, China's internet market had a long way to go and Naspers could still grow the Tencent business organically.
Naspers warned, however, that Tencent was a young and still risky business.
Naspers recently released a good set of results for the six months to September.
Its interest-bearing debt fell to R681 million from R1.57 billion in the previous period.
The group's cash balance at the end of the period was R2.94 billion.
Naspers is on record as saying it would continue to focus on growing its profitability and free cash flow.
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
