SOUTH AFRICA—Canal+, The French multimedia conglomerate, has added its shares in Multichoice, inching closer to owning a 50% stake in the company.
Canal+ has been progressively acquiring shares in the South African media conglomerate, and the recent three separate share purchase transactions effectively raised its ownership to 45.2%.
Specifically, Canal+ has secured an additional 7,374,918 shares of MultiChoice through a combination of on-market and off-market dealings.
As confirmed by the company, after completing the recent transactions, Canal+ will possess approximately 45.20% of MultiChoice’s issued shares.
Canal+ has also reported these acquisitions to the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) in compliance with the mandatory disclosure requirements stipulated by the Companies Act.
Since the announcement that Canal+’s stake in MultiChoice exceeded the 40% threshold, Canal+ has consistently reported its on-market purchases of MultiChoice stock to the TRP every week.
Canal+ has proposed a purchase offer for all shares of MultiChoice for R125 per share (US$6.85). This offer is currently under consideration by an independent board that MultiChoice has established to evaluate the proposal.
The group has indicated its intention to acquire additional shares of MultiChoice while its takeover offer is active. Should further acquisitions necessitate disclosure under the Companies Act or Takeover Regulations, Canal+ has committed to making the necessary disclosures and announcements.
However, it is improbable that Canal+ will surpass the 50% ownership threshold through these incremental share purchases, as such a move would constitute a merger according to the Competition Act. This would necessitate prior approval from the Competition Tribunal before proceeding.
MultiChoice has previously clarified that if Canal+ were to purchase shares at a price exceeding R125 (US$6.85) each, it would be obligated to increase its offer price accordingly.
Canal+ began buying shares in MultiChoice in 2020.
Like MultiChoice, the Paris-headquartered Canal+ has a large footprint in Africa. The Canal+ Afrique pay-television offering is extensive in French-speaking countries in central and west Africa, with more than five million subscribers on the continent.
Canal+ previously called its stake in MultiChoice “a long-term financial investment.” Still, the sharp increase in shareholding has fuelled renewed speculation that it may have more ambitious plans.
Canal+ and MultiChoice have teamed up on co-productions, most recently an action-drama series called Spinners in South Africa.
For its part, DStv owner MultiChoice has 21.8 million active African users (of which nine million are in South Africa).
Canal+ is owned by Vivendi, the owner of one of the recording giants, Universal Music Group, and the advertising giant Havas.
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