(Bloomberg) -- French broadcaster Canal+ has increased its stake in South African pay-TV company MultiChoice Group Ltd. to more than 30%, moving closer to a level that would trigger a mandatory offer to other shareholders.
Canal+, which is owned French billionaire Vincent Bollore’s Vivendi SE, has gradually acquired tranches of shares. It now owns 30.3% of the Johannesburg-based company, compared with 20% seven months ago, according to stock market filings, with the latest reported on Friday.
Canal+ was already the biggest shareholder in Multichoice before the latest purchases. If it were to buy 35% or more of the company’s shares, it would trigger a mandatory offer to the other owners, which include the Public Investment Corp., Africa’s largest fund manager.
“A full takeover of MultiChoice looks unlikely to us — despite Vivendi’s Canal+ unit again increasing its stake, this time to 30.3% — with the move appearing opportunistic,” said John Davies, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “The share buying is likely to end soon, as a 35% stake would trigger a mandatory offer. South African law restricts foreign ownership to 20% — which MultiChoice enforces via a voting-rights cap.”
Multichoice, which operates in 50 countries across Africa, was spun off from Naspers Ltd. and listed separately in February 2019. The company’s stock rose more than 7% from the start of February until Thursday, but was down 1.1% by 12:18 p.m. local time on Friday
--With assistance from Loni Prinsloo.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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