Vivendi’s Canal+ Group has made a bid for full control of African entertainment company MultiChoice Group, in which it already holds a 31.7% stake.
“The Canal+ Group confirms that it has submitted to the Board of Directors of MultiChoice a letter containing a non-binding indicative offer with the aim of acquiring all of the issued ordinary shares of MultiChoice that it does not yet own, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals,” the Paris-based pay-TV company said in a statement on Thursday. “.
Canal+ said it had offered 105 South African rand ($5.61) per ordinary share, representing a 40% premium to the closing price of 75 rand on January 31..
The group stressed that the “development” or “terms of the potential deal” were not “confirmed”, adding that any transaction would adhere to all laws and regulations relating to the South African media sector and companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
It remains to be seen whether the bid will gain traction given that South Africa currently has rules in place that limit foreign ownership of commercial broadcasters in South Africa to 20%, although moves are underway to increase this to 49%.
The move to fully acquire MultiChoice comes a month after parent group Vivendi announced that it was considering a project to split its activities into several entities.
“Canal+ is actively preparing its stock market listing following the announcement of the proposed separation from its parent company Vivendi,” Canal+ Group’s statement on Thursday said.
“This project will allow investors to benefit from the merger of Canal+ and MultiChoice, as the ultimate goal of the Canal+ Group is to also obtain a listing in South Africa.
Canal+ Group, which first acquired a stake in MultiChoice in 2020, said the aim is to create a broad-based African media company capable of thriving in an increasingly competitive international market.
“Canal+ is a long-term investor in MultiChoice and South Africa, and is proud to have been actively involved in the African media sector for 30 years. To accelerate MultiChoice’s development in Africa and beyond, it will need to adopt a strategy that enables it to scale and enhance its local and global footprint,” said Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada. “.
“Our potential bid, if successful, will be an important step in enabling MultiChoice to achieve its full potential. Combined with Canal+, MultiChoice will have the resources to gain scale and invest in local African talent and stories, and will have the proprietary technology resources needed.”
“We are convinced that the merger of our two groups will enable the new entity to address the structural challenges facing the media sector, develop authentic and ambitious African content, support more local production companies, and expand access to sports for its subscribers. While investing in local sports.”
MultiChoice was created in the early 1980s, with backing from South African tech giant Naspers, and currently has around 20 million subscribers across Africa.