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French entertainment giant Canal+ has hiked its stake in MultiChoice to 30.27%, up about 4% from what it previously reported.
From around 6% in 2020, Canal+ has been steadily building up its stake, having said in September the group's stake had risen to 26.26%.
Pushing its shareholding to beyond 35% will trigger a mandatory buyout offer to other shareholders.
Canal+ is owned by Vivendi, which is also the owner of one of the recording giant Universal Music Group, as well as the advertising giant Havas.
Canal+ previously called its stake in MultiChoice "a long-term financial investment", but the sharp increase in its shareholding has fuelled renewed speculation that it may have more ambitious plans for the firm.
READ | DStv in French hands? Why Canal+ may be building a big stake in MultiChoice
Like MultiChoice, the Paris-headquartered Canal+ has a large footprint in Africa. The Canal+ Afrique pay-television offering is popular in Francophone countries in central and west Africa, and had 6.56 million subscribers at the end of June on the continent, out of a total of 23.9 million.
MultiChoice had 21 million subscribers at the end of September, 12.19 million of which were in Africa.
Shares in MultiChoice, which is valued at R57.68 billion on the JSE, were down 1.05% to R128.97 in afternoon trade on Friday, having risen just over 3% on a one-year basis.
Click here for details on MultiChoice's shares and other info.
