Canal+ raises bid for MultiChoice deal

Vivendi SE’s Canal+ said it increased its bid for South Africa’s MultiChoice Group to R125 a share, valuing the firm’s shares at R55 billion.

The new all-cash offer will see the two companies enter “exclusive” talks on the deal, Canal+ chair and CEO Maxime Saada said. The higher bid follows pushback from MultiChoice on Vivendi’s earlier offer of R105 per share.

“On this basis, both companies have mutually agreed to co-operate, and MultiChoice has agreed it will give exclusivity to Canal+,” Saada said.

The French media company is working with JPMorgan and Bank of America to prepare a new offer due by April, the sources said.

MultiChoice shares have risen 45% since the offer was first announced on 1 February.

Vivendi has been buying up stock in the broadcaster, which owns the popular video-streaming service and Netflix rival Showmax. The French company is now MultiChoice’s largest investor, and its holding size has triggered local regulations that require it to make a takeover bid.

MultiChoice’s second-largest investor is the Public Investment Corp, which manages the bulk of the South African government employees’ pension money. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are acting as MultiChoice’s financial advisors, said the sources.

Representatives for JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Formed 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 in 2019 and offers the French broadcaster access to a continent with the world’s fastest growing and youngest population.

Saada said the company remains firmly committed to a JSE listing, supporting transformation, and maintaining MultiChoice’s status on broad-based black economic empowerment.

Vivendi aims to combine its local Canal+ operations with MultiChoice creating a group with almost 50 million subscribers and the resources to invest more in local content and sports.