Vivendi plans to sell Editis as part of the acquisition of Lagardère – 07/28/2022 at 20:47


VIVENDI ENVISAGES A DISPOSAL OF EDITIS AS PART OF THE ACQUISITION OF LAGARDÈRE

PARIS (Reuters) – Vivendi announced on Thursday that it was considering a full spin-off of its publishing subsidiary Editis to avoid any concentration problems in the context of the acquisition of Lagardère.

The proposed combination of Editis with Hachette in the context of the takeover of Lagardère by Vivendi, currently being examined by the competition authorities of the European Union, has raised concerns about competition in the publishing sector.

It was also strongly criticized by independent publishing houses, including Gallimard.

“This project, if realized, would make it possible to preserve the integrity of the second French publishing group and to give it all the necessary means to continue its development”, indicates Arnaud de Puyfontaine, the chairman of the executive board of Vivendi, quoted in a press release.

The French media giant, in which businessman Vincent Bolloré holds 29% of the capital, explains that the project to sell Editis will be done via a distribution to shareholders and a listing on Euronext Paris.

Vivendi already owns 57% of Lagardère’s capital, but its voting rights will be capped at 23% until the merger receives the green light from the competition authorities.

The French group has announced that it is ready to pay up to 2 billion euros to get its hands on the entire capital of Lagardère.

Vivendi, which at the same time published its results for the first half, reported sales up 10.9% – 5.4% on an organic basis – to 4.873 billion euros.

Over the first six months of the year, its adjusted operating income (Ebita) amounted to 412 million euros, up 31.5%, while net income increased by 0.5% to 491 millions of euros.

(Written by Matthieu Protard, with contributions from Mathieu Rosemain, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot, Kate Entringer and Jean Terzian)



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