Naspers has sold all OLX units in Africa to Jiji, a five-year-old online marketplace based in Nigeria.
OLX Africa was operating in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Uganda.
According to a statement released by Naspers on Monday, the acquisition of OLX Africa units in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda is pending “certain regulatory approvals”.
The transaction is backed by one of Jiji’s cornerstone investors, Digital Spring Ventures.
Officials say the deal will see OLX users “benefit from Jiji’s market-leading products and services”.
Anton Volyansky, CEO and co-founder of Jiji commented: “Users will always come first for us. We warmly welcome OLX’s customers to the Jiji family and we look forward to our new customers joining Jiji on its journey to empower the lives of its customers by providing a safer, more secure and enjoyable online shopping experience”.
Vladimir Mnogoletniy, Board Director and co-founder of Jiji commented: “We believe that this transaction is pivotal for Jiji’s business. We are a long-term investor in Africa and believe in the exceptional opportunities that exist in this amazing continent.
“With this transaction we plan to build the largest Africa-based classifieds business, creating a new experience for Africa’s fastest-developing countries and their combined population of 300 million. We firmly believe that in the next 2-3 years ours will be one of the top 10 classifieds businesses in the world by traffic.”
Sjoerd Nikkelen, General Manager of OLX Africa, Middle East and Asia said: “We are proud of our achievements in Africa, including the sustainable businesses we have built in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
“We continually evaluate our portfolio of classifieds businesses to ensure a disciplined approach to how and where we allocate capital and management time. With our focus on accelerating the growth of other markets, now is an opportune time to sell our interests in these markets. We are pleased that Jiji will continue to provide the exceptional quality of products and services that the customers in these countries have come to know and enjoy from OLX.”
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Zhanibek Sydykov, Partner at Digital Spring Ventures, commented: “We are pleased to be able to assist our partners at Jiji on this transaction, and we strongly believe that the combined Jiji and OLX businesses will become a formidable force in the African e-commerce market.
“This transaction further advances the consumer reach of one of the star portfolio companies in our current fund, which is focused on partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs to deploy capital in the internet and technology sectors in some of the world’s most exciting emerging markets.”
According to Punch, a Nigerian news publisher, OLX closed its business in Nigeria in 2018 and laid off workers “as part of the process to consolidate its operations in the country.”
In 2018, Naspers also sold its online retailer, Konga, to Zinox Group.
Following the closing of the transaction (which is expected to occur once certain regulatory approvals have been obtained), officials said, all users of the sell-and-buy classifieds websites of OLX Nigeria, OLX Ghana, OLX Kenya, OLX Tanzania, and OLX Uganda will be redirected to Jiji.
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