Media giant Vivendi to examine spinning off some units onto stock market (updated)
13/12/2023 21:03
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Canal Plus and Havas arm implicated in this plan
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Also investment arm that holds its Lagardere stake
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Vivendi says it has suffered 'conglomerate discount'
(New throughout, adds details on plans and background on
Vivendi)
By Sudip Kar-Gupta
PARIS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - French media company Vivendi
VIV.PA said it had decided to examine splitting up some of its
activities into several entities, each of which would then be
listed on the stock market, in order to boost their growth and
development.
Vivendi - in which France's billionaire Bollore family
holds the biggest individual stake - said the businesses that
could be spun off in this way included its TV unit Canal Plus,
advertising arm Havas and an investment company holding its
stake in French company Lagardere LAGA.PA .
"The investment company would actively support the
strategic development of its portfolio companies and would focus
on value creation and capital return to its shareholders,
through an effective portfolio rotation and a targeted
reinvestment policy," said Vivendi in a statement.
It added that this plan would help it overcome what
Vivendi said was a 'high conglomerate discount' regarding its
valuation.
In October, Vivendi had reported a
rise in its third quarter revenues
, driven by growth at Canal Plus and Havas.
Vivendi is also the biggest shareholder in Telecom
Italia TLIT.MI . Vivendi is expected to
challenge legally Telecom Italia
's 19 billion euros ($20.7 billion) sale of its prized
fixed-line grid to U.S. fund KKR KKR.N .
Shares in Vivendi closed up 0.7 percent on Wednesday,
giving it a market capitalisation of roughly 9 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9190 euros)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Jonathan Oatis and
David Gregorio)
((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com;))