With Primedia out of the picture, following its delisting from the JSE late last year, it comes as no surprise that media conglomerate Naspers has assumed the top position to be this year's most empowered media company.
Naspers came second to Primedia in the 2007 Top Empowerment Companies (TEC) survey. Primedia was delisted from the stock exchange following a R7bn private equity deal involving its founders, the Kirsch family, the Mineworkers Investment Company - the BEE partner - and a group of managers.
Naspers had also moved up to number 21 on the overall 2008 TEC ranking list, soaring to beat its four remaining counterparts - Kagiso Media, Avusa Communications (formerly Johnnic Communications), African Media Entertainment and Caxton/CTP Publishers & Printers.
The group secured a total BEE score of 65,43 points. It scored an impressive 21,95 in the ownership factor of the scorecard. That means Naspers claimed maximum ownership points of 20 and was awarded a further 1,05 bonus points.
Naspers also managed to produce an impressive 14,31 points in procurement out of a possible 15 and 4,82 in socioeconomic development.
Naspers's market capitalisation stood above R50bn at the time of going to press. The group has television, print and online assets in SA, across Africa, China, India, Eastern Europe and South America. It is home to Media24, the biggest magazine and newspaper publisher on the continent; pay-TV operator MultiChoice, which accounts for 65% of the company's turnover; Internet company MWeb; and printing and distribution company Paarl Media.
Naspers, which is headed by Koos Bekker, can be regarded as an old hand at the black economic empowerment game. The group got the ball rolling in 1995 when it launched Phuthuma, its first share scheme, selling 5% of M-Net to about 8 000 black investors. Three years later this was followed by Phuthuma Futhi, which made a further 10% of M-Net/SuperSport available for BEE.
In 2006, through Phuthuma Nathi, Naspers sold 15% of pay-TV operator MultiChoice SA to black investors for R2,2bn. It also sold an equal stake in Media24 for R730m through Welkom Yizani, an investment vehicle it had set up. Media24 issued 14,6m ordinary shares, which Welkom Yizani bought for R50 and sold to the public for R10 - with Naspers providing 80% of the funding through preference shares.
Shareholders must retain the shares for at least five years before selling them - to another black person or black-owned company. However, it is on skills development that Naspers performed poorly scoring 6,4 points out of 15.
The company did slightly better on employment equity, achieving 7,8 out of 15. Only 38% of Naspers's board consists of previously marginalised persons. Of the company's 12 directors, only four are black and two are women. Its senior management team of 26 executives comprises just four blacks and again, only two women.
Investors can expect another BEE deal from Naspers soon.
