Canal+ to squeeze out MultiChoice shareholders after crossing 90% mark

(Alliance News) - Paris-based Canal+ SA will compulsorily acquire the remaining shares in the Johannesburg-based entertainment company MultiChoice Group Ltd after crossing the key 90% share ownership threshold.

As at 1200 SAT on Friday last week, MultiChoice shareholders holding 217.7 million shares, or about 92.5%, had accepted Canal+'s mandatory offer.

Canal+ now holds a total of 94.4% stake in MultiChoice, including shares it held before the offer. The London-listed group will exercise a "squeeze-out" option to buy all the remaining shares.

After reaching this target, Canal+ will take over MultiChoice, which will delist from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Canal+ will then seek a secondary inward listing on the JSE, following acquisition of MultiChoice.

Canal+'s takeover of MultiChoice will conclude a process that started early in June last year. Back then, Canal+ improved its offer for MultiChoice to ZAR125 per share, a 67% premium to MultiChoice's closing price of ZAR75 before Canal+ first approached MultiChoice investors on February 1 last year.

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

In a joint statement, Canal+ and MultiChoice said on Monday the integration of the two firms has now started to take place.

"We are pleased with the overwhelming success of the offer," Canal+ Chief Executive Officer Maxime Saada said, adding: "Following this outcome, we will be moving ahead with a squeeze-out of MultiChoice shareholders and a subsequent secondary inward listing of Canal+ in Johannesburg, in addition to our primary listing in London."

By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News senior reporter South Africa

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