Vivendi SE’s Canal+ has upped its multibillion-dollar bid for broadcaster MultiChoice Group and it is believed that the deal could be sealed by the end of April.
This comes at a time when MultiChoice had finally discovered the best way to do business in the continent through streaming and introducing several local content that was already earning a lot of popularism with their audience.
Last week MultiChoice Kenya hosted a content showcase at the Windsor Golf and Country Club in Nairobi, where the Managing Director Nzola Miranda urged Kenyans to support local content.
According to reliable sources, Canal+ enjoys more than 35 percent holding in MultiChoice, South Africa’s biggest pay-TV group, triggering a mandatory takeover offer. Initially, shareholders were skeptical when they offered 105 Rands per share but they seem to slowly be embracing the new firm after they increased the shares offer to 125 Rands per share this week.
If the French broadcaster can navigate the country’s limits on foreign media ownership, it will gain greater access to African markets, home to the world’s fastest-growing and youngest population.
Canal+ is expected to make a formal offer for MultiChoice at 125 rand a share, valuing the company at about 55 billion rand ($2.9 billion), before April 8 for consideration by the board’s independent members.
Vivendi aims to combine its local Canal+ operations with MultiChoice, creating a group with almost 50 million subscribers and resources to invest more in local content and sports.
Showmax, Multichoice’s streaming platform is estimated to have the most subscribers in Africa as of 2023.
Formed in South Africa in 1985, MultiChoice expanded across Africa in the early 1990s with packages including live English football matches and local shows. The company was spun off from Naspers Ltd. in 2019. It also owns Showmax, the popular video-streaming service and Netflix Inc. rival.
Vivendi aims to combine its local Canal+ operations with MultiChoice, creating a group with almost 50 million subscribers and resources to invest more in local content and sports.
