No jackets required as Naspers struts its stuff

There was an odd informality to Naspers’s shareholder meeting last week in Cape Town. Tie-less and donning a regal teal jersey was chairman Koos Bekker, now the boss of Africa’s largest company. CEO Bob van Dijk, who took the reins from Bekker five years ago, was wearing a white shirt, sleeves rolled up, and looked as if he was about to give a TED Talk.

This relaxed approach is different from the Naspers of yesteryear. Before the turn of the century, grey suits were the rage and superiors were called “meneer”. In his biography, former chair Ton Vosloo says this was the way Bekker addressed him in their three decades together.

But this time round there were no titles. Instead, the company made a bit of a show of its new multinational character by introducing board members and senior management not only by name and surname, but adding “from Hong Kong” or “from Amsterdam” almost in the way of academic qualifications.

The message is clear: Naspers has gone international. First by investing abroad — a strategy employed since the 1990s that has had mixed results. But one deal, the early investment in Chinese tech giant Tencent, changed its fortunes. Second, on the back of the success of that transaction, Bekker and Van Dijk’s company has outgrown SA.

To get an idea of the scale of Naspers, think of all the banks listed on the JSE. Add up their market values and you’ll still be short of Naspers’s market capitalisation.

Add Anglo American, and you’re close.

It is the sort of success that gives a company the confidence to loosen the tie, roll up the sleeves and try the quirky things that other tech giants do.

Naspers classes itself in the same league as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. As a result, hipness is expected. Finger eats in the foyer at a shareholder meeting is so last season. Naspers opted to have its South African subsidiary, Mr D, deliver lunch to the auditorium last week.

Some shareholders have been invested since Naspers listed on the JSE at R17 per share in 1994. And though many of them were tied and suited, they don’t seem to mind the informality, because their shares were trading at R3,400 this week — spectacular returns.

That is also why shareholders backed management’s plan to list the international assets — in a company called Prosus — on Euronext in Amsterdam. They want big international money to buy into the company, hoping the scarcity of tech stocks in Europe will attract investors who want exposure to Tencent and e-classifieds, online payments and food delivery.

If Prosus is a hit, shareholders will be happy. Naspers will still control Prosus and will retain a stake of about 73% in the business when it lists in two weeks’ time.

But for long-term success, the billions invested in the underlying companies — OLX, Swiggy, iFood and PayU, among others — need to deliver decent returns. If they don’t, no degree of quirkiness will be able to put a smile on shareholders’ faces.

Before the turn of the century, grey suits were in and superiors were called ‘meneer’