Naspers Asking Investec to Withdraw ‘Damaging’ Analyst Report
- Shares in Africa’s largest company down 16% since release
- Naspers says Investec contains inaccuracies, miscalculations
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Naspers Ltd. is asking Investec Ltd. to withdraw an analyst report that it says contains errors and has damaged Africa’s biggest company by market value and its shareholders.
In the note dated Jan. 22 seen by Bloomberg News, Investec analysts David Smith and Thapelo Mokonyane said Naspers should be valued at a 30 percent discount to its assets. That’s due to a gradual increase in the number of outstanding shares over 11 years, taxation issues and costs associated with financial transactions, referred to in the report as friction costs, they said.