The Naspers Prosus listed in Amsterdam a valuation of 100 billion dollars

Europe lamented the lack of major Internet technology companies that can compete with US and Chinese giants such as Google, Facebook, Alibaba and Tencent.

Overnight, the continent's fortunes changed in the form of a $ 100 billion mainstream Internet company, listed on Wednesday in Amsterdam.

The company is called Prosus, and it is a spin-off from the South African consumer conglomerate Naspers. Prosus said its market capitalization during its first day of trading was about $ 100 billion, making it one of the 10 largest mainstream Internet groups in the world.

"The Prosus listing represents an exciting step forward for the group, as it gives global technology investors direct access to our unique and attractive portfolio of international consumer Internet activities," said Wednesday Bob van Dijk, CEO of Prosus Group and Prosus, in a press release.

Prosus is not a mainstream Internet business, which means that it does not offer digital services under its own brand, such as Facebook or Alibaba, for example. Instead, it invests in a portfolio of global Internet companies in sectors ranging from payments to financial technologies (fintech) to food delivery.

The group's best-known investment is made up of 31% of Chinese technology giant Tencent, titan of the game and owner of the popular WeChat messaging application. Naspers invested $ 32 million in Tencent in 2001, a $ 130 billion bet.

As part of the new structure, Prosus will hold the stake in Nasper, Tencent, as well as positions in other companies such as the Russian social media company Mail.ru Group and the German food delivery service Delivery Hero. Naspers will remain the majority owner of the new company.

The addition of Prosus to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange has upset the European technological landscape. The company immediately became one of the largest technological entities in the region. According to data compiled by Reuters, only the size of the German software manufacturer, SAP, is valued at about 135 billion dollars.

Europe has lagged behind the United States and China as the seat of the big tech companies. According to data from the World Economic Forum, among the 20 largest Internet companies in value in 2018, none were based in Europe. Last month, reports revealed that the EU had developed a plan to create a sovereign investment fund in "high-potential European companies" that could compete with major US and Chinese technology companies.

"Naspers believes that the choice of Euronext Amsterdam is and will be beneficial for the company, as Euronext's markets are among the largest, most integrated and most proven capital markets in Europe. ", said the company in its prospectus.

Naspers first announced its intention to register its international Internet assets under a new corporate name, which became Prosus, on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in March. Prosus is also listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Analysts said that one of the reasons for this decision was that Naspers placed undue importance on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

By referring directly to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the Prosus listing has not received as much attention as a traditional IPO, according to Ken Rumph, equity research analyst at Jefferies, which covers Naspers. The existing shareholders of Naspers will be awarded new shares of Prosus.

"Being publicly traded in Europe, there is a bigger investment fund, a lot of money and passive indices that you could be part of," Rumph said in an interview on Tuesday. "There is a kind of tactical argument that there is a more favorable place."

The prosus will trade under the symbol "PRX".