Satellite-broadcast giant DirecTV is considering a bid for Vivendi’s Brazilian fixed-line and broadband unit GVT according to a Bloomberg report citing two people familiar with the matter.
The US-based player is said to be seeking information to…
Satellite-broadcast giant DirecTV is considering a bid for Vivendi’s Brazilian fixed-line and broadband unit GVT according to a Bloomberg report citing two people familiar with the matter.
The US-based player is said to be seeking information to evaluate a bid, while Vivendi is still in the process of drawing up a list of parties who will get access to the data room.
Talks between DirecTV and Vivendi are at a very early stage and there is no guarantee that DirecTV will submit a bid, one of the people familiar was quoted saying.
Vivendi is currently undergoing a strategic review as it looks at how to cut its level of debt which reached €14.1bn at the end of Q2.
In August it was reported that Vivendi had enlisted Rothschild and Deutsche Bank to assess strategic options for GVT.
Vivendi, which acquired GVT for around US$4bn at the end of 2009, declined to comment on the latest report.
If the conglomerate now decided to dispose of GVT it would follow a bitter boardroom split between then chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou and the group’s former CEO Jean-Bernard Levy, who stepped down recently following disagreements over strategy and whether Vivendi should focus on media or telecoms.
It was first reported that Vivendi may sell GVT in July. Reuters cited two unnamed sources suggesting that Fourtou considers telcos too capital intensive and risky.
For its part, DirecTV has substantial operations across Latin America which have been driving the company’s growth in the face of a maturing US market.
DirecTV owns 93% of Sky Brasil in a market that is set to grow.
In February the president of Brazilian regulator Anatel was cited telling journalists that he expected the number of pay-TV subscribers in Brazil to double to 25 million households in the next five years.
If DirecTV acquired GVT it could offer these subscribers a triple play service.
Estimates have put a value of between €5.2bn and 8.5bn on GVT.
