Africa: Multichoice Acquisition - Canal+ Has Big Plans for Africa

12 June 2024
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Georgina Crouth

Why the filming of revenge thriller Huntington in Cape Town helped encourage French company Canal+'s bid for MultiChoice.

Since joining as chief executive officer in 2015, Maxime Saada has overseen the growth of Canal+ from 9 million subscribers to over 26.4 million in 50 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

He's now leading the French multinational television company's multi-billion acquisition of MultiChoice, which will place the group among the top five biggest entertainment companies in the world -- and the biggest outside of the US.

The M&A deal is the biggest so far this year, after BHP's takeover bid of Anglo American collapsed.

Saada and other executives, including Anna Marsh (CEO of Studio Canal+) and Ron Halpern (executive vice president of global production and talent management at Canal+) from the French head office met with journalists in Stellenbosch on Thursday on the set of the Studio Canal+ film production Huntington.

The revenge thriller, directed by John Patton Ford, stars Glen Powell (who had a supporting role in the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, and the lead in Hit Man, which is currently streaming on Netflix), Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Maid), Jessica Henwick (Game of Thrones and The Matrix Resurrections), and Hollywood legend, Ed Harris.

Why Cape...

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