Canal+ set to ‘squeeze out’ MultiChoice minority shareholders

Canal+ plans to invoke a section of the Companies Act that will allow the French media giant to compulsorily acquire all of the MultiChoice shares it does not already have.

This squeeze-out comes after more than 90% of MultiChoice shareholders accepted Canal+’s offer by the time it closed on Friday, 10 October.

In an announcement released on Monday, 13 October, Canal+ said its offer saw outstanding success, having been accepted by shareholders holding 217,659,343 MultiChoice shares.

This represents around 92.54% of the offer shares, meaning Canal+ now holds about 94.39% of MultiChoice’s total issued ordinary shares.

Now, the French media giant plans to invoke section 124 of the Companies Act, which will allow the company to “squeeze out” the remaining stake from shareholders who did not accept the offer.

The Companies Act allows parties to invoke this clause if, within four months after the date of an offer, the holders of at least 90% of the shares involved have accepted that offer.

Canal+ said the remaining shareholders who did not accept the offer will be paid the offer consideration for their stakes, which was R125 per share.

Once Canal+ has acquired the outstanding shares, MultiChoice will become its wholly-owned subsidiary, and the DStv-owner’s delisting from the JSE will commence.

When MultiChoice has been delisted, Canal+ plans to obtain a secondary inward listing on the JSE. Its primary listing is currently on the London Stock Exchange.

“A secondary inward listing will preserve South African investor access and market liquidity, allowing local investors to hold shares in a leading global media and entertainment company on the JSE,” Canal+ said. 

“It will broaden the investor base of Canal+, reinforce the company’s long-term commitment to South Africa and Africa’s creative economy, and support continued institutional exposure to the media sector.”

The company said its acquisition of MultiChoice marks the largest transaction Canal+ has ever undertaken.

The combined group will serve more than 40 million subscribers across around 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.