Inside the MultiChoice City building in Randburg, Johannesburg.
MultiChoice, which is being bought by Canal+ in a $3 billion deal, has received all the approvals it needs to restructure the company, ensuring the new entity has empowerment shareholders.
The purchase amount currently equates to R52.2 billion, based on this morning’s exchange rate of R17.36.
In July, the Competition Tribunal conditionally approved the multibillion-rand merger between South African-based video entertainment firm MultiChoice and French media giant Canal+.
As part of the competition authorities’ requirements, Canal+ and MultiChoice committed R30 billion to maintaining MultiChoice’s headquarters in South Africa, continued funding for local content and live sports, and supporting the country’s creative sector.
With agreements in place to enable a new structure, MultiChoice announced late yesterday that it can now proceed with “the implementation of the various steps of the reorganisation”.
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It reiterated that the restructure “is to be undertaken in order to enable the implementation of Canal+’s mandatory offer for MultiChoice, and forms part of the conditions imposed by the South African Competition Tribunal when approving the mandatory offer”.
Under the new structure, an entity called LicenceCo will be carved out of MultiChoice. This company will hold the South African broadcasting licence and contracts with local subscribers.
The rest of the group’s video entertainment assets will remain within the MultiChoice Group. The DStv operator has been under pressure from financial strain and a shrinking subscriber base.
In its latest results, MultiChoice reported losing 2.8 million active linear subscribers over the past two years, while currency depreciation against the US dollar wiped R10.2 billion off its revenue.
In MultiChoice’s 2025 annual report, it states that “a potential transaction with an African-centric global player such as Canal+, which not only has scale and resources to contribute, but also a demonstrable history of supporting economic development in Africa, would significantly enhance the continued sustainability, growth and success of our business across the continent”.
The empowerment stake will be partially held through Phuthuma Nathi, which will ultimately own a 27% economic interest in LicenceCo.
Phuthuma Nathi was created in 2006 to offer black South Africans the chance to own an indirect stake in MultiChoice South Africa. Its initial public offer in 2006, and a second the following year, were both oversubscribed, its website notes.
The entity, which initially owned a quarter of MultiChoice, has paid out more than R13 billion in dividends to its 80 000 black shareholders, which it says include “professionals, helpers, gardeners, teachers, nurses, stokvels and black-owned small businesses”.
Phuthuma Nathi will be joined by “two well-established, black-owned and managed companies, Identity Partners Itai Consortium and Afrifund Consortium [Investments], whose highly experienced leaders bring with them great commercial and industry knowledge”, as well as an employee stock ownership plan, according to MultiChoice’s February circular.
Identity Partners Itai Consortium is a black women-owned investment firm, established in 2008, that invests in companies such as Sasol and Inala Broadcast. It says it ensures “black women are active participants at every level — ownership, leadership and enterprise development”.
Former Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko leads Afrifund Investments, which targets companies with high growth potential or leadership positions in the property, energy, engineering, financial services and ICT sectors. The entity was founded in 2018.
MultiChoice Group’s shareholding in LicenceCo will ultimately give it a 49% economic interest and 20% of the voting rights.
