Vivendi SE’s Canal+ must make a mandatory offer for MultiChoice Group after it increased its shareholding in the African pay-TV business to more than 35 percent, a ruling by South Africa’s Takeover Regulation Panel has said.
According to a Bloomberg report, the takeover regulation panel gave this ruling after MultiChoice announced on February 5 that Canal+’s holdings of its issued shares exceeded the threshold South African law required for a company to make a mandatory offer to shareholders.
According to a statement on Wednesday, the Johannesburg-based firm asked the panel to rule on whether such an offer was required. The ruling could give Canal+ fresh impetus to bring an improved offer to MultiChoice shareholders after the company’s board rejected a proposed price of 105 rand ($5.48) per share that valued the business’s shares at 46 billion rand. That price undervalued the business, MultiChoice board said.
