(AFP/ERIC PIERMONT)
The French media and publishing giant Vivendi announced on Tuesday the validation by its supervisory board of a proposed split into four entities: Canal+, Havas, a company bringing together publishing and distribution (Lagardère and Prisma Media) as well as an investment company.
“The management board proposed today (Tuesday, Editor’s note) to the supervisory board – which the latter accepted – to structure this split around four entities”, indicates in a press release the Vivendi group, which had taken control of Lagardère at the end november.
This split project was announced in mid-December and then concerned three entities each to be listed on the stock exchange: Canal+, Havas and an investment company which would hold “listed and unlisted financial interests in the sectors of culture, media and entertainment.
What’s new on Tuesday is therefore the project to create “a company bringing together assets in publishing and distribution”, which “would bring together Vivendi’s majority stake in Lagardère and that of 100% in Prisma Media” and “would promote collaborations between the different sectors of activity linked to publishing in its broadest sense,” the group clarified.
This long-term demerger project “must demonstrate its added value for all stakeholders and include an analysis of the tax consequences of the various planned operations,” explains Vivendi.
A new progress report on the project study will be presented at a meeting of the supervisory board on March 7, the date of the publication of the group’s annual results.
Among the other “important steps” to come, Vivendi cites “the consultation of the staff representative bodies of the entities concerned, before which no decision in principle will be taken, the obtaining of the necessary regulatory authorizations, the required approvals from the bond holders and other lenders of the group and, when the time comes, the consent of Vivendi’s shareholders”.
At the end of November, the takeover of the Lagardère house by the Bolloré family finally reached its conclusion, after more than three and a half years of adventures, which began when Vincent Bolloré invited himself to the capital of Lagardère as the a high-risk general meeting for its manager.
With this mega-acquisition, Vivendi changes size and goes from 38,000 to around 66,000 employees. Its turnover would increase, on a basis comparable to that of 2022, by 72% to 16.5 billion euros, according to the group.