Canal+ ups MultiChoice stake
May 2, 2024
Canal+, the French media group, has increased its holding in MultiChoice to 42.47 per cent as it moves take full control of the African pay-TV company.
Canal+ announced in a press statement that it had acquired in on- and off-market transactions, a further 3.87-million MultiChoice shares, and the transactions had been disclosed to South Africa’s takeover regulation panel. The group has been buying up shares after it started building its stake with an initial purchase of 6.5 per cent in October 2020.
Canal+ made an offer to buy the rest of the company at R105 a share back in February, but Multichoice deemed the offer as being too low. Canal+ then raised its offer to R125 per share on March 5th, taking its stake to 35.01 per cent and triggering a mandatory.
On April 8th, Canal+ and MultiChoice revealed they had entered into a “co-operation agreement” regarding the proposed mandatory offer.
MultiChoice and Canal+ announced they intend posting a combined circular to MultiChoice shareholders by May 7th.