By Leo Marchandon and Gianluca Lo Nostro
(Reuters) -French broadcasting group Canal+ said on Monday it was planning a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) after it acquired South African broadcaster MultiChoice.
Canal+ closed the 35 billion rand ($2 billion) MultiChoice acquisition in September, adding MultiChoice’s extensive African subscriber base to its portfolio, with the combined entity serving more than 40 million subscribers across nearly 70 countries.
It will begin the listing process in Johannesburg once MultiChoice has been delisted from the JSE. The delisting is expected to be completed before the year-end, a Canal+ spokesperson told Reuters via email.
Canal+ has committed to a nine-month timeframe that should see the French media group’s shares trading before September 2026, the spokesperson added.
Dual and secondary listings have gained momentum in recent years, as companies seek to broaden their investor bases and increase valuations amid global competition. The London Stock Exchange, where Canal+ will keep its primary listing, offers a “Secondary Listing” category with light-touch regulation, designed for overseas companies or UK firms adding a foreign listing.
A secondary listing will preserve South African investor access and market liquidity, Canal+ said in a statement.
Canal+, which was spun-off from Vivendi and listed in London in December 2024, is aiming to become a global content platform with Asia and Africa as priority markets.
The group said the integration of MultiChoice had started and that it would tell the market its detailed plans in the first quarter of 2026.
($1 = 17.3133 rand)
(Reporting by Leo Marchandon and Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
