Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football and South Africa’s richest black man, is in talks to join Canal+’s bid for MultiChoice, according to reporting by Bloomberg. The report further states that the discussions are still at an early stage and that there is no guarantee that an agreement will be reached.
Motsepe, worth $2.4 billion according to Forbes, is the founder and chairman of Ubuntu-Botho Investments and African Rainbow Capital (ARC). Some of the companies’ investments include mobile network operator Rain and neobank TymeBank. Motsepe also has mining interests through Africa Rainbow Minerals (ARM).
Earlier this month, Canal+ made an offer of R125 per share for the pan-African broadcaster, a 20% increase from the initial offer of R105 per share submitted in early February.
The offer valued MultiChoice at about $2.9 billion. Since 2020, the French company has increased its stake in MultiChoice from 20.1% to 35.01% when the first offer was made in February 2023.
Since Canal+’s flirtations, experts have pointed out the regulatory complexities that the deal to acquire MultiChoice might incur.
Motsepe’s involvement in the deal may be able to address some of these complexities, which include the fact that foreign companies are not allowed to have more than 20% voting rights in South African broadcasting companies.
“With its roots in South Africa, the coming onboard by [Motsepe] would ensure Multichoice remains in South Africa and meets the threshold of local ownership required by authorities,” said Mpumelelo Ndiweni, CEO of Colmin Group, an African markets advisory and investment company.
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