South Africa-based media conglomerate Naspers has used its corporate venturing division to take a direct stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST), a Russian internet-focused venture capital firm.
Naspers already had an indirect holding in DST through its 35% stake in a portfolio company, China-based messaging service Tencent. Tencent bought 10% of Digital Sky Technologies for $300m in April.
Through its Myriad International Holdings (MIH) subsidiary, Naspers has now bought 28.7% of DST for $388m in cash and its 39.3% stake in Russian internet services company Mail.ru.
Concurrently, Mail.ru management and other minorities will also convert their shares into DST to give the VC total ownership of the biggest communication and entertainment platform in the Russian-speaking internet world.
Mail.ru has 50 million registered email accounts, a leading market share in massive multi-player online games and a social networking site.
Yuri Milner, chief executive of DST, which together with affiliate DST Global also holds stakes in US internet companies Facebook, Zynga and Groupon, said: "Naspers’ strategic insight has already proven to be valuable in our partnership [for the three years the two have co-owned Mail.ru]."
Antonie Roux, head of Naspers’s internet operations, said: "This opportunity further expands our exposure to emerging markets and the fast-growing internet sector."
South Africa and London-listed Naspers operates in 129 countries.