JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The Canal+ group, owned by Vivendi, made a firm offer on Monday for the shares of South African broadcaster MultiChoice which the French group does not yet own, the two companies said.
Canal+, already MultiChoice’s largest shareholder, is offering 125 rand per share in cash, which values the pending shares at around 35 billion rand (1.73 billion euros).
According to Reuters calculations, this new offer values the entire company at around R55 billion.
MultiChoice gained 3.27% at 07:52 GMT on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Canal+’s proposal represents a premium of 66% compared to the group’s closing price on February 1, the day before the publication of the television channel’s indicative offer.
The takeover would allow Vivendi to create an internationally competitive pan-African broadcasting powerhouse.
Vivendi is present in French-speaking African countries, while MultiChoice is more established in English-speaking countries, including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
MultiChoice’s board of directors has appointed Standard Bank of South Africa Limited as advisor to the transaction, the two companies said.
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, French version Augustin Turpin and Corentin Chappron, editing by Zhifan Liu and Kate Entringer)
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