MultiChoice has today announced that French media company Groupe Canal+ has acquired more shares in the company, which means it now owns 12% of the total ordinary shares in issue.
Groupe Canal+ SA is a French film and TV studio and distributor which owns the Canal+ French TV channels. These channels span across movies, sports, series, and news, and have produced popular films such as The Straight Story, Mulholland Dr, and Inland Empire.
Groupe Canal+ has been expanding into Africa in recent years, including the acquisition of Nigerian production company ROK Studios. Vivendi – the entity which owns and controls Groupe Canal+ – previously tried to acquire MultiChoice Africa, but the multi-million-dollar offer was rejected.
The company is now stocking up on MultiChoice shares, which many industry players speculate may be an indication that Canal+ SA is planning to acquire MultiChoice.
MultiChoice is Africa’s leading entertainment company and operates four platforms – DStv, GOtv, Showmax, and DStv Now. It has approximately 14 million subscribers across 50 countries, with a particularly dominant position in South Africa.
MultiChoice therefore serves Canal+ SA’s African ambitions perfectly and explains why it is investing in the company. MyBroadband has learned that there was a recent internal meeting between Canal+ SA and MultiChoice.
MultiChoice said as a publicly held company, it regularly engages with its strategic partners and maintains an open dialogue with the investment community.
“The group’s policy is not to comment on its individual shareholders nor on its interactions with them, The company remains committed to acting in the best interests of all shareholders and to create sustainable long-term shareholder value,”MultiChoice said.
MultiChoice added that it has filed the required notice with the Takeover Regulation Panel.
The Takeover Regulation Panel, which reports to the Minister of Trade and Industry, oversees the country’s takeover regulations.
Its mandate is to regulate mergers and acquisitions and to protect minority shareholders by ensuring that during transactions such shareholders will have access to important information.
