Thinus Ferreira
The MultiChoice Group and Canal+ SA on Tuesday said the companies are on track to clear all conditions in October 2025 of the French company's aggressive takeover deal of the South African pay-TV operator.
MultiChoice and Canal+ have pushed later their so-called "long stop date" from 8 April to 8 October.
In February MultiChoice and Canal+ revealed that they have devised a new structure to get MultiChoice South Africa to pass various regulatory hurdles preventing majority foreign ownership of a local South African media company.
MultiChoice will be restructured so that the current holder of the broadcasting licence in South Africa and the part that contracts with South African subscribers - MultiChoice (Pty) Ltd or LicenceCo - will be carved out of the MultiChoice Group and will be ringfenced as a seemingly independent entity.
The rest of MultiChoice's video entertainment assets will remain part of the MultiChoice Group which doesn't have a licence but supplies content.
LicenceCo will therefore continue to hold the subscription broadcasting licence in South Africa, and it will continue to contract with MultiChoice’s South African subscribers.
Canal+ and MultiChoice must secure approvals for the mega-takeover deal from Icasa, the Takeover Regulation Panel, South Africa's Competition Tribunal, shareholders, the Financial Surveillance Department and adhere to other requirements like black-economic empowerment (BEE) and with Canal+ not have voting rights of more than 20% as mandated by the Electronic Communications Act.
