Vivendi in talks with Kretinsky company over sale of Editis publishing unit (updated)

Television Francaise 1 SA

14/03/2023 07:38

(Adds detail and background)
       PARIS, March 14 (Reuters) - French media conglomerate
Vivendi  VIV.PA  said it was in exclusive talks with
International Media Invest (IMI), a subsidiary of Czech Media
Invest founded by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, over the sale of
its Editis publishing arm.
    The planned sale of Editis by Vivendi, which is controlled
by French billionaire Vincent Bollore  BOLL.PA , is part of
Vivendi's strategy to overcome regulatory hurdles regarding its
acquisition of French company Lagardere  LAGA.PA .
    Vivendi said its decision to embark on talks with Kretinsky
meant that it was dropping an earlier plan to spin-off Editis
and float it on the Paris stock market.
    Hachette, which is currently owned by Lagardere and is the
world's third-biggest publishing group, is key to Vivendi's
planned takeover of Lagardere.
    The prospect of Hachette being merged with Editis triggered
criticism from independent publishers and resulted in Editis
losing some well-known authors.
    Daniel Kretinsky has built up one of Europe's biggest energy
companies over the last decade.
    In France, Kretinsky has stakes in Le Monde newspaper,
supermarket company Casino  CASP.PA  and TV group TF1  TFFP.PA .

 (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by Louise Heavens,
Kirsten Donovan)
 ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com;))