Multichoice loses $578.69 million after acquiring additional stake in Adekunle Adeniji’s BetKing

South African cable and entertainment behemoth Multichoice Group Limited has lost $578.69 million (R8.36 billion) of its market capitalization since it offered Nigerian entrepreneur Adekunle Adeniji $281.5 million to acquire an additional stake in BetKing.

BetKing is a Nigeria-based sports betting and entertainment company established by Adeniji in 2017.

At the close of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) today, July 1, shares in Multichoice closed at $8.19 (R118.31) per share, or 0.82-percent higher than its opening price for the day.

At this price, shares in the cable and entertainment behemoth were trading 12.19-percent lower than its opening price for the year at $9.33 (R134.73) per share.

At the current price, the South Africa-based video entertainment group stood at $3.62 billion. This is $503.03-million less than its opening valuation for the year.

Billionaires.Africa reported on June 11 that the board of directors of Multichoice Group approved to increase its holding in BetKing.

According to the report, the offer, which would see Multichoice acquire a 29-percent stake in BetKing and $281.5 million change hands between the parties, is expected to close in August 2021 once the necessary conditions are met.

When completed in August 2021, the transaction will set Multichoice on course to increase its stake in BetKing from 20 to 49 percent.

Since the offer was announced on June 10, shares in the video entertainment group have declined by 13.77 percent from $9.50 (R137.20) to $$8.19 (R118.31) per share today.

The decline of Multichoice’s shares on the JSE caused its market capitalization to fall from $4.20 billion (R60.71 billion) to $3.62 billion (R52.35 billion) between June 10 and July 1.

This translates to a $578.69-million (R8.36 billion) value loss in 20 days.