(Reuters) – Vivendi is faced with European competition rules to complete its plan to buy Lagardère, the chairman of its executive board said on Wednesday, as the group has only one week left to propose remedies. Brussels.
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the project last November, considering that the operation was likely to significantly reduce competition in the book market due to a merger between Editis and Hachette (Lagardère).
The European competition authority has transmitted its grievances to the Paris-based group, whose main shareholder is billionaire Vincent Bolloré, said Vivendi’s chairman of the management board, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, during a call with journalists.
This document includes a long list of grievances and follows the remedies already proposed by Vivendi – including the sale of Editis, the simultaneous distribution of its shares to Vivendi shareholders and its listing on the Paris Stock Exchange.
“We are continuing our constructive discussions with the European Commission on the remedies that could be proposed,” said Arnaud de Puyfontaine.
“At the same time, we are continuing discussions with potential buyers of Editis with a view to filing proposals for remedies around mid-March.”
Arnaud de Puyfontaine indicated that Vivendi had received “three serious offers” for Editis, without further details.
Vivendi at the same time announced on Wednesday a net result, group share in loss of 1.01 billion euros, mainly due to the deconsolidation of Telecom Italia, after a profit of 24.69 billion euros in 2021.
The company said an adjustment in the value of Telecom Italia shares led to a loss on deconsolidation of 1.35 billion euros in 2022.
It also indicated that it had recorded an impairment of Editis’ goodwill of 300 million euros.
Excluding the impact of the deconsolidation of Telecom Italia, Vivendi reported annual adjusted net income up 19.4% compared to 2021, at 677 million euros.
At constant exchange rates and perimeter, the group’s turnover increased by 5.1% over one year to 9.6 billion euros.
(Written by Diana Mandiá and Mathieu Rosemain; French version Augustin Turpin and Tangi Salaün, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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