Vivendi’s CFO has ruled out a break-up of the French giant for the time being, following speculation that the media and telecoms company could split its business into two.
The company, which controls telcos SFR, GVT and Maroc Telecom, has been…
Vivendi’s CFO has ruled out a break-up of the French giant for the time being, following speculation that the media and telecoms company could split its business into two.
The company, which controls telcos SFR, GVT and Maroc Telecom, has been carrying out a strategic review to cut its debt pile which reached €14.1bn at the end of Q2.
On a conference call group CFO Philippe Capron said that while nothing was taboo and Vivendi was reviewing all options with an eye to value creation, the company is fully committed to preserving value for its bondholders.
“In spite of the imagination of investment bankers, we do not see how we could reconcile those two aspects,” Capron said.
“Clearly a break-up of the company would lead to very very great difficulties in terms of apportionment of debt, and we do not see the possibility to retain a quality rating on the two remaining entities. Therefore a straight break-up, for the time being, is not something we contemplate.”
Capron also said that any asset disposal by Vivendi would be aimed at preserving value for bondholders.
“We will endeavour to remain a BBB or BA2 with the major agencies which means any asset disposal which could happen at the end of our strategic review process would result in an adequate level of deleveraging,” the CFO said.
Vivendi has reportedly hired banks over the last few months to test the water for a potential sale of Brazilian operator GVT or games developer Activision. The company has always refused to comment on the speculation.
Vivendi parted company with its CEO Jean-Bernard Levy in June following a divergence of views over the strategic direction of the conglomerate, with Jean-Francois Dubos replacing him. The disagreement was said to focus on asset disposals and whether the firm should focus on media or telecoms.
