Naspers to increase stake in Takealot

Naspers will invest about R1bn in Takealot Online in an exchange for a majority stake in the e-commerce group.

The investment will boost Takealot’s expansion with additional products and services.

Takealot, which merged with Naspers-owned business Kalahari in 2014, boasts a number of businesses including general online retailer Takealot.com, fashion online platform Superbalist.com, restaurant food delivery service Mr D Food and Mr D Courier, a courier service.

The merger resulted in Naspers becoming a 42% owner in the combined entity.

Following the latest investment, Naspers’ total ownership will increase to 53.5%.

Tiger Global will own 34.2%, while the remaining 12.3% will be owned by management, staff and other minorities.

Takealot founder and CEO Kim Reid said that the latest investment would allow the group to continue to grow the business in a market with huge potential.

According to Takealot, retail is a highly competitive market in SA and online retail accounts for less than 2% of the nongrocery retail market and less than 1% of the total retail market.

“The channel continues to offer great upside potential when one considers e-tail penetration in other markets such as the US, UK and China, which is already at or around double digits,” said Reid.

Naspers CEO for B2C e-commerce Oliver Rippel said Takealot’s team continued to drive “exciting growth and shows great promise in a market we expect to go from strength to strength”.

Takealot has recorded a compound annual growth rate of 90% over the past four years.

According to a KPMG report, in seven sub-Saharan countries, e-commerce makes up 1% to 3% of GDP and is predicted to make up 10% of total retail sales in key markets by 2025, with 40% annual growth over the next 10 years.