Africa's largest media firm, Naspers, is to buy UK internet auction firm Tradus for £946m ($1.90bn) in order to expand into central and eastern Europe.
Tradus was formerly called QXL, and Naspers said the deal would consolidate its existing presence in Poland.
Under the deal, Johannesburg-based Naspers will pay £18 for each Tradus share, a 19% premium to the closing price of £15.10 on 6 November.
Naspers shares closed 5% down on fears it may have overpaid for Tradus.
Abri du Plessis, chief investment officer at Gryphon Asset Management said: "It's probably seen as not a good thing spending a lot of money going for risk at a time like this."
Naspers owns South Africa's biggest daily newspaper, the Daily Sun, and African pay TV unit Multichoice.
The media group has been investing in the internet for 10 years and has previously been building up a presence across Africa, in China, and in Russia.
Tradus has sites in most central and eastern European nations, as well as Denmark, Norway and Switzerland and the UK.
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