Canal+ doubles stake in Mauritius-based MC Vision

French pay-TV company Canal+ is edging closer to becoming a bigger player on the African continent after it bought a majority stake in Mauritius-based pay-TV operator MC Vision.

Bloomberg reported that Canal+ and MC Vision released a joint statement in the Le Dimanche/L'Hebdo newspaper confirming that the French company had increased its stake in MC Vision from 37% to 75%, for an undisclosed amount, pending regulatory approvals.

Currimjee Jeewanjee, a family-owned business that co-founded MC Vision with Canal+ over two decades ago, will reduce its stake from 53% to 25%, while the state-owned Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation will sell its 10% holding. According to the companies, the new structure will allow MC Vision to better meet the audiovisual content and service expectations of Mauritian households, with the added support of the Canal+ group.

Canal+ spreading its African wings

Canal+ has been stretching its muscles and making its presence known on the African continent lately.

It is edging closer to fully acquiring South African pay-TV and streaming company MultiChoice Group and, in June 2024, increased its stake in MultiChoice to 45.2% after an independent board approved the sale.

The MC Vision deal follows Canal+ upping its stake in South Africa's MultiChoice Group to 45.2%. (Source: Canal+).

MC Vision is the latest in a series of Canal+ acquisitions on the African continent. In 2019, Canal+ acquired Nigeria's ROK Studios to distribute Nollywood content and expanded its presence in Rwanda by purchasing Zacu Entertainment.

The MultiChoice saga

Even though the Canal+ stake in the MultiChoice Group is 45.2%, getting there has not been an easy task for the French company. It has been attempting to purchase MultiChoice since the beginning of the year.

In early February 2024, Canal+ offered R105 ($5.50 at the time) per MultiChoice ordinary share – which represented a 40% premium on MultiChoice's closing share price on the JSE of R75 ($3.13) on January 31, 2024 – but MultiChoice believed the offer significantly undervalued the company and rejected the offer.

Then in March 2024, the company made a mandatory offer to MultiChoice shareholders to take up all the shares that it did not already own.

In April 2024, Canal+ grew its shareholding to 40.1%. A week later, it bumped it up to 40.83%, and the company now holds 45.2% of MultiChoice.

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa