South African-based media group Naspers will terminate its listing on the Nasdaq Global Market and apply for secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the company said on Thursday.
Naspers said the decision to delist from Nasdaq was driven by high costs of maintaining the listing and registration in the United States and complying with US
obligations, especially the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron and Tyco International.
Naspers said the secondary listing on the LSE would provide a platform for international investors who wish to trade in Naspers N ordinary shares other than on the JSE Limited.
The listing on the LSE is expected to become effective during the third quarter of 2007.
Naspers, the company that owns newspapers such as City Press, Die Burger and Beeld, said the resulting savings in cost and management’s time would benefit its shareholders, while the continued trading of its N ordinary shares on the JSE will provide liquidity to its shareholders and access to capital for Naspers.
At March 31 2007, the total number of American Depository Shares (ADSs) accounted for approximately 1% of Naspers’s issued N ordinary shares, it said.
Concurrent with the delisting from Nasdaq, Naspers will terminate its registration of the ADSs with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
At 10.40am, shares at the company were quoted at R180,98, up R1,48, or 0,82%. – I-Net Bridge