Naspers is cutting its stake in lucrative Chinese investment Tencent by as much as 2 percent in a deal that could net the South African media and e-commerce group up to $11 billion.
Under the deal, Naspers plans to sell up to 190 million shares, or 2 percent, in Tencent via an accelerated bookbuild to raise money that would fund growth in its e-commerce unit.
The company said Tencent is one of the very best growth enterprises in any industry in the world however, it also wants to fund the further development of some of Naspers' core business lines.
Naspers owes much of its valuation to a $33 million bet in 2001 on a stake in Tencent, whose breakneck pace of growth has catapulted it into China's biggest Internet company with a $561 billion market capitalisation.