Canal Plus Groupe, the France-based international broadcast heavyweight, has secured approval from South Africa’s competition tribunal for its takeover of the country’s domestic media giant MultiChoice.
That tribunal was the final hurdle that could possibly have prevented the move, and in moving past this potential obstacle, Canal can now complete the purchase well in advance of the October 8 long-stop deadline.
Speaking on the approval, Canal Plus chief executive Maxime Saada commented: “I’m excited about the potential this transaction unlocks for all stakeholders, notably South African consumers, creative businesses, and the nation’s sporting ecosystem.
“The combined Group will benefit from enhanced scale, greater exposure to high-growth markets, and the ability to deliver meaningful synergies.”
The deal in question, a mandatory offer worth 5 billion South African rand ($1.9 billion), will see Multichoice minority stakeholder Canal Plus take the 63.4% of MultiChoice that it does not already own.
In doing so, it will consolidate its business in Africa into one of the continent’s largest and most powerful media giants, if not the largest.
Combined, the consolidated business would have over 31 million subscribers across the continent, with Multichoice alone boasting almost 22 million subscribers as of September 2023.
Canal Plus tabled that mandatory offer back in April 2024, with the protracted approval process indicative of the scale of the takeover.
Among the concessions that Canal Plus had to make for its bid to be improved is the commitment to funding sports and entertainment content in South Africa, and the use of local talent and content creators in such.
The pair passed the last hurdle, the South African Competition Commission, back in May.
The MultiChoice business includes the DStv and SuperSport brands, while it also relaunched its Showmax streaming platform last year.
Canal Plus’ pan-African offering is centered around a number of Francophone sub-Saharan countries such as Mali and Senegal, while Multichoice operates across English-speaking nations such as South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Canal Plus, the largest single stakeholder in MultiChoice, first bought into the business in early 2020, aiming to create a consolidated media giant on the continent.
Multichoice owns both SuperSport and the DStv pay-TV network, which together hold the vast majority of English-language rights in Sub-Saharan Africa to top-tier sports properties, including English Premier League soccer, American football’s NFL, motor racing’s Formula 1, and all major international cricket tournaments.
