Canal+, a French company, has offered to acquire MultiChoice, South African pay-TV giant for around R31.7bn ($1.7bn).
In a statement issued by the Paris-based firm on Thursday, Canal+ announced that it submitted a non-binding indicative offer to MultiChoice’s board to acquire all of the issued ordinary shares it does not already own, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals.
In its last annual report, MultiChoice revealed that Canal+ owned 140,160,277 of its 442,512,678 issued shares.
Local reports said that over the past four years, Canal+ had steadily bought MultiChoice shares on the open market until it held over 30 per cent of the company.
Canal+ offered R105 per ordinary share, representing a premium of 40 per cent to MultiChoice’s closing share price of R75 on January 31. Buying out the remainder would cost Canal+ close to R31.75bn ($1.7bn).
Canal+ said that its acquisition would transform MultiChoice into a global-scale media company.
Maxime Saada, chairman and chief executive officer of Canal+, in the statement, said, “For MultiChoice to continue to thrive in Africa it will require a strategy that enhances its scale as well as strengthened local and global expertise.
