Banks score R500-million as Naspers lists Prosus in Europe

Three investment banks — Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley — will be paid €7.2-million each, a total of €21.6-million or R367-million, for their roles as lead financial advisors in Naspers’s listing of Prosus in Amsterdam.

A further eight investment banks acting as other financial advisors will each be paid €0.9-million or R15-million for their work. These banks include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, ICBC Standard Bank and ING. Together, the 11 banks will be paid €28.8-million — nearly R500-million — for their work on the listing.

The prospectus published by Prosus on Monday shows that the amounts paid to the banks comprise two-thirds of the total estimated expenses for the group’s listing of €43.3-million (R736-million).

Lawyers are the next best paid. Allen & Overy, which advised Prosus and Naspers on Dutch and US law, will be paid €3.8-million, while Webber Wentzel, which advised the two firms in South Africa, will be paid €3.3-million (R56-million). Linklaters and Glyn Marais will be paid around R16-million and R4-million respectively.

The fees paid to Euronext for the listing on the Amsterdam exchange total €2-million (R34-million), while the JSE will be paid around R3.5-million. Investec, in its role as the company’s JSE sponsor, will be paid R2.6-million for the listing. The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM, or Stichting Autoriteit Financiële Markten) will be paid around R1.1-million.

‘Other expenses’

So-called “other expenses and disbursements”, which include administrative expenses and publication costs, are expected to total €1.1-million (R19-million).

The separate listing of Naspers’s Internet assets was approved by 95.5% of common (N) shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting immediately following Friday’s AGM. The listing will take place on 11 September.

• This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission