As Canal+ moves to delist MultiChoice from the JSE, the French broadcaster announced its intention to acquire all outstanding shares in the DStv operator that it does not already own.
On Friday, Canal+ began the “squeeze out” process, saying it aims to acquire all shares in MultiChoice not already tendered to it, invoking provisions of section 124 of the Companies Act to compulsorily acquire all securities.
A “squeeze out” is a corporate action by which a majority shareholder forces minority shareholders to sell their shares, allowing it to gain complete ownership of the company.
This typically occurs after a takeover bid is accepted by a high percentage of shareholders and it is usually subject to legal requirements for fair compensation and process.
In September, the acquisition of MultiChoice by Canal+ became unconditional, marking the largest transaction undertaken by the French media group.
After that other shareholders began tendering their MultiChoice shares to Canal+ at the offer price of R125.
Having gone through that process Canal+ now holds 94.39% of MultiChoice’s equity.
The French group now wants to acquire the balance, just more than 5%, that it does not yet own.
Once done, MultiChoice will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Canal+ and will be delisted from the stock market.
Trading of MultiChoice shares on the JSE and A2X will be suspended from October 27, with delisting expected on December 10.
The integration of MultiChoice Group and Canal+ is now under way. After an in-depth review, Canal+ intends to inform the market of its detailed plans and envisaged synergies when it provides a strategic update for the combined group during the first quarter of 2026.
For MultiChoice customers all subscription and billing arrangements will remain the same.
Last week, the group announced changes to some of its pricing as part of a promotion to acquire more customers.
“From the start of November we will be reducing our HD decoder pricing by 30% in retail channels and over 40% through our newly launched DStv store to make joining and reconnecting with DStv easier and more affordable than ever,” Byron du Plessis, CEO of SA PayTV at MultiChoice, said last week.
MultiChoice and its subsidiaries will change their financial year-end from end-March to end-December to align with Canal+.
The company will not announce interim results in November as originally announced.
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