South Africa’s Richest Black Man Patrice Motsepe Joins Canal+’s MultiChoice Bid Talks

Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football and South Africa’s richest black man, is in talks to team up with Canal+ in their bid for MultiChoice, a big broadcasting company. This news comes from Bloomberg. The talks are still early, so it’s not certain they’ll make a deal.

Motsepe is worth $2.4 billion, says Forbes. He started Ubuntu-Botho Investments and African Rainbow Capital (ARC). 

Some of the companies they’ve invested in are Rain, a mobile network, and TymeBank, an online bank. He’s also into mining through Africa Rainbow Minerals (ARM).

Canal+ offered R125 per share for MultiChoice, which is a 20% increase from their first offer of R105 per share in February. This made MultiChoice worth about $2.9 billion. Since 2020, Canal+ has increased its stake in MultiChoice from 20.1% to 35.01%.

But there are hurdles. Experts say buying MultiChoice might be complicated because of rules. For example, foreign companies can’t have more than 20% voting rights in South African broadcasting companies.

Mpumelelo Ndiweni, CEO of Colmin Group, a company that advises on African markets, says Motsepe joining the bid might help. He thinks having Motsepe involved could keep MultiChoice in South Africa and meet the rules about local ownership.