MultiChoice, the well-known pay-TV provider in Africa, is purportedly the target of a non-binding offer from Canal+, the massive French pay-TV operator owned by Vivendi SE. Four years have passed since Canal+ first purchased a 6.5% share in the massive African broadcaster.
Canal+ offers 105 Rands per share, a significant premium above MultiChoice’s current share price of 79 Rands. By carefully increasing its footprint throughout Africa, Canal+ has grown its subscriber base from one million in 2016 to an astounding seventy-six million by 2023. Canal+’s original content options in the region were notably strengthened with the July 2019 acquisition of ROK Studios, a Nigerian film production business.
The progressive escalation of Canal+’s ownership in MultiChoice, from 20.1% in 2020 to about 32.6% in 2022, is consistent with Vivendi’s wider goals in the African market. It was expected that Vivendi, which has a reputation for doing forceful takeovers, would strategically acquire MultiChoice.
One of Vivendi’s previous bold buys was paying €180 million in October 2015 to purchase minority shares in the video game companies Ubisoft (6.6%) and Gameloft (6.2%), ultimately obtaining a 10% stake. Following Vivendi’s hostile acquisition of Gameloft, which saw it acquire more than 30% of the business before convincing other investors to sell, Gameloft became a Vivendi subsidiary in June 2016.
But in the near term, regulatory obstacles might make a full acquisition of MultiChoice more difficult. Legal restrictions in South Africa prevent foreign corporations, such as Canal+, from possessing more than 20 percent of the voting rights on a local broadcaster’s board of directors. MultiChoice upholds this regulation by capping voting rights, making a complete takeover appear unlikely.
