Canal+, the French media group that now owns MultiChoice, has listed on the JSE – barely six months after taking full control of MultiChoice and delisting it from the same exchange.
The secondary inward listing on the JSE’s main board, effective Wednesday, makes Canal+ the first French company to list in Johannesburg and the only global media and entertainment business on the exchange.
Canal+ retains its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, where it floated in December 2024, and used the JSE’s fast-track secondary listing framework to complete the inward listing. The move gives local investors rand-denominated exposure to a group with more than 40 million subscribers and €9-billion in annual revenue.
MultiChoice – a JSE fixture – was delisted late in 2025 after Canal+ mopped up 94.39% of its shares through a mandatory offer and triggered a “squeeze-out”, ending the pay-TV group’s run as a separately listed South African company.
Canal+ has operated in Africa for more than 30 years and counts 23 million subscribers across over 40 countries on the continent, alongside more than 18 million in Europe. Its stable now includes MultiChoice’s DStv, GOtv, M-Net and SuperSport, as well as StudioCanal and Dailymotion. CEO Maxime Saada said Africa would be the group’s growth engine “for years to come”, describing the dual listing as a bridge between Europe and Africa.
JSE CEO Valdene Reddy said the listing marked an important milestone for the internationalisation of African capital markets. The exchange now hosts 263 companies with a combined market capitalisation exceeding R25.2-trillion.
Read: A 12-year-old competition case lands on Canal+’s desk
The listing lands at a delicate moment, however. The Competition Commission is investigating Canal+’s post-takeover conduct, including its decision to shut down streaming service Showmax and whether it is honouring the public-interest conditions attached to the merger. For all the talk of bridges between continents, Canal+ arrives on the JSE with local regulators watching closely. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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