Alan Knott-Craig

Alan Knott-Craig’s investment vehicle, World of Avatar, has signed a binding agreement to acquire 90% of Stellenbosch-based instant messaging company MXit for an undisclosed amount, with 10% remaining in the hands of its staff via a trust, which was set up by founder Herman Heunis in 2005. The sale is subject to fulfilment of certain conditions.

MXit claims to have 43m registered users. Both current shareholders, MIH Holdings (a subsidiary of Naspers) and Herman Heunis have sold their entire shareholding in MXit.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

At the conclusion of the sale, MXit will be headed by Alan Knott-Craig, the founder of World of Avatar and son of the former Vodacom Group CEO of the same name.

Herman Heunis, MXit’s founder and CEO, will no longer be involved in the company and will take a six-month sabbatical before deciding on his plans for the future.

“Creating and building MXit has been an enormously interesting journey for me, and I have had a lot of fun, but it is time to inject new and young energy into the company, and I believe that Alan and his team will do a superb job,” says Herman Heunis.

Knott-Craig says: “In the short term, we want MXit to maintain and grow its position as the largest mobile social network in Africa. This means a focus on consolidating and strengthening the core of the business before we move to implement the long-term strategy.” — Staff reporter, TechCentral