Koos Bekker, chairperson of Naspers and Prosus, has sold almost R2.5 billion worth of shares in the two companies through a family trust to fund his luxury tourist estates in South Africa, England and Italy.
As reported by News24, this is the second big share sale in two years, following the 2023 sale of shares worth R3.4 billion.
According to Sens announcements released late on Monday, Bekker sold 792 800 ordinary Naspers shares from 17 to 19 December for a total value of R860 532 549.44.
On the same dates, he sold almost 1.6 million Prosus shares for about €81.7 million in total, or R1.6 billion in today’s exchange rate. Prosus, which houses Naspers’ international internet companies, including its share in the Chinese giant Tencent, is listed on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with a secondary listing on the JSE.
Together, the transactions amount to just under R2.5 billion, of which the SA Revenue Service will likely take a big chunk.
The shares were held by the Bekker family trust. Listing requirements in both SA and the Netherlands require that sales of shares by directors or related parties are declared.
The money is intended to “fund building operations at hospitality venues located in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Italy, in which the family trust has an interest.”
Following the transactions, the Bekker family trust retains 90% of its holding in Naspers and Prosus shares “that it had prior to the disposal”.
Bekker and his wife, Karen Roos, own Babylonstoren near Franschhoek in the Western Cape, The Newt in Somerset in England, and Fattoria di Vignamaggio, a Tuscan wine estate between Florence and Siena in Italy.
All three estates have luxury accommodation, restaurants, and extensive gardens. Babylonstoren is a working fruit farm and winery, while Vignamaggio has a winery and produces olive oil. It is billed as the birthplace of Mona Lisa, since Lisa Gherardini, the subject of Leonardo da Vinci’s 1503 painting, was supposedly born there.
In 2023, Bekker said in response to queries by Netwerk24, News24’s sister publication, that he “doesn’t have brakes when it comes to building”.
As far as can be established, it is only the second big Naspers and Prosus share sale by the Bekkers’ trust.
The Bekkers also own Over-Amstel Boerderij, a restored farm near Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and The Story of Emily, an interactive museum dedicated to Emily Hobhouse, who advocated for women and children held captive in concentration camps during the Second Anglo-Boer War.
Naspers’ shares have climbed almost 34% year-to-date, and Prosus by nearly 39%.