Along with the shares, Naspers will pay an additional $388 million for a 28.7% stake in DST, which runs instant messaging platforms and social network sites in the east European country.
DST has made a name for itself in the last couple of years as it’s taken stakes in such high profile U.S.-based consumer Internet companies as Groupon and Zynga Game Network. DST also invested $200 million into Facebook in early 2009.
In Russia, Naspers and DST are already co-owners of Mail.ru, a large Internet company that provides email, social networking and gaming services.
As part of it investment in DST, Naspers said last week that it will hand over its 39.3% stake in Mail.ru, which it co-owned along with DST for the past three years. DST will be the sole owner of Mail.ru following the transaction.
Unlike many of its global rivals, which have been battered by the drop in traditional advertising revenue, Naspers has been helped by its 30% stake in Tencent Holdings, China’s biggest Internet firm.
Naspers, which runs pay-TV channels across Africa and has stakes in Internet firms in Asia and Europe, told Reuters last month it was looking to acquire more e-commerce firms in emerging markets. —Reuters
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