Naspers has launched a Brazilian depositary receipts programme as part of an ongoing effort to increase access to its international unit’s shares for investors in different parts of the world.
On Monday, its Amsterdam-listed subsidiary, Prosus, announced the approval and launch of the programme on the B3 — Brazil Stock Exchange and Over-the-Counter Market — in São Paulo, managed by Itaú Unibanco, the country’s largest private bank.
“This strategic initiative reflects our continued commitment to expanding our global visibility and diversifying our shareholder base, with an enhanced focus on the Brazilian market,” Prosus said in a note to investors.
According to the Corporate Finance Institute, a depository receipt programme is a system that allows a company to list its shares on a foreign stock exchange without being directly listed there. A depository bank buys shares in the foreign company and issues depository receipts, which are negotiable certificates representing those shares, to investors in the host market.
Such an arrangement simplifies international investing for individuals and provides foreign companies with a flexible way to raise capital and access new investor bases.
The Brazilian programme follows on from the group’s successful American depositary receipts (ADR) programme in the US.
In recent years, Brazil has gained prominence in the Naspers/Prosus portfolio with the growth and success of Latin American food delivery business iFood, as well as the appointment of Brazilian businessperson Fabricio Bloisi as group CEO from mid-2024.
Prosus said the programme would provide Brazilian investors with “seamless access to the company’s shares while strengthening Prosus’ engagement with local investors, consumers and customers. Prosus looks forward to engaging with Brazilian investors and establishing a robust foundation for long-term growth and collaboration”.
This is the latest in a series of actions that group has made to increase access to its securities and broaden its investor base.
Most recently, Naspers announced a share split that came into effect in early October.
A stock split is a decision by a company to increase the number of outstanding shares by a specified multiple. This is typically done to reduce the price per share of a company’s securities without affecting its market capitalisation.
In this case, the subdivision was done in the ratio of five-for-one for each respective class of issued shares, with the aim of making it cheaper for investors to access the group’s securities.
As such, Naspers shares are now trading at about 20% of what they were prior to the split.
Until the start of October, Naspers had one of the highest stock prices on the JSE at more than R6,000 per share.
The move has also had the effect of bringing Naspers’ share price in line with that of Prosus.
At 12.08pm, Prosus shares were up 3.95% on the JSE at R1237.54, while Naspers was 4.12% firmer at R1287.45.
