The announcement comes almost four weeks after Arabian Business exclusively revealed that Naspers was in talks to purchase a shareholding in Souq.com from parent company Al Jabbar Internet Group.
The value of the stake in Souq.com was not disclosed, although sources say that it is about US$40m. If true, the deal would be the second largest investment made in an ecommerce and internet business in the Middle East since the 2009 sale of Arabic-language portal Maktoob.com for US$165m.
With this investment, Naspers will have a minority stake alongside existing investors Tiger Global and Jabbar Internet Group
Naspers is a South Africa-based multinational mass media company with principal operations in electronic media (including pay-television, internet and instant-messaging subscriber platforms and the provision of related technologies) and print media (including the publishing, distribution and printing of magazines, newspapers and books, and the provision of private education services). Naspers owns DSTV, OLX, Mocality in Nigeria
Tiger Global Management, LLC is a privately owned investment manager. The firm manages hedge and private equity funds. It invests in the public and private equity markets across the globe primarily the US, China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Early this year, Tiger Global invested $8 million in Iroko Partners, an online media distribution company focused on the Nigerian Entertainment Industry.
