- Canal+, a French media company, has been granted a 25-business-day extension on the MultiChoice mandatory buy offer.
- On Monday, MultiChoice informed shareholders that Canal+ has until April 8 to make the required offer, as per the Takeover Regulation Panel directive.
- This follows the South Africa Takeover Regulation Panel's order on February 28 that the company must make an immediate offer.
Recall that on February 1, Canal+ announced plans to buy the remaining stakes in MultiChoice for R31.7 billion ($1.6 billion), after steadily increasing its ownership interest in the company from 20.1% to around 35.01%.
Consequently, doing so activated a provision in the South African Companies Act that obliges it to extend an offer to acquire the remaining shares of the company.
Canal+ stated today that it respects and will comply with the Panel's decision.
"On this basis, Canal+ confirms that it applied for and received from the Panel an exemption from adhering to the timing requirements," the French media added.
Meanwhile, MultiChoice's board of directors has stated that it will continue to prioritise the company's and its shareholders' best interests.
The South African payTV company also stated that it’ll keep shareholders up to date on any new developments.
However, following Canal+’s offer, MultiChoice rejected it, claiming that the French media's offer undervalued the company. The Board expressed its willingness to engage further with any party regarding offers that are deemed fair in terms of price and subject to suitable conditions.
On February 6, the Takeover Regulatory Panel expressed dissatisfaction over the open discussion between the two companies about the possible takeover.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time the South African regulator has intervened in discussions between two companies.
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In August 2022, the panel addressed the possible merger discussions between MTN and Telkom and the latter and Rain. While MTN and Telkom had already announced preliminary merger talks in July 2022, Rain issued a statement regarding the proposed merger with Telkom.
This development prompted the Takeover Regulation Panel to order Rain to withdraw its statement that it had formally requested a merger proposal from the Telkom board.
The TRP then stated that Rain made the announcement without first obtaining TRP approval, as required by Regulation 117 of the Companies Regulations, and advised shareholders and the market to disregard it.
Meanwhile, neither of the proposed conversations resulted in a merger.
