Vivendi’s Canal Plus has offered to purchase all the shares it does not own in South Africa’s MultiChoice for about $1.7 billion to reinforce its hand in a competitive international pay TV market.
Canal Plus is the top shareholder in MultiChoice with a total stake of 31.67% according to LSEG data.
MultiChoice’s shares had increased in trade on Thursday but it remained below the offer price. They were last up 24.83% at 93 rand.
Canal Plus has said its offer, worth 31.7 billion rand according to estimates by Reuters, was non-binding and expressive but that it expected to deliver a letter of firm intention to MultiChoice’s board once due assiduousness has been checked.
MultiChoice currently operates in 50 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and it has confirmed that said it had received a letter from the French media company.
They further added that any developments would be communicated to shareholders in due time.
MultiChoice has over the years invested billions of rand to stave off competition from international streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon and Disney.
As part of MultiChoice’s plans to fight off competition, it partnered last year with NBCUniversal and Sky to revamp MultiChoice’s Showmax streaming service. As it stands presently, the streaming service now offers live Premier League soccer matches.
