Vivendi has proposed a €7.60 per share tender offer to buy out French free to air broadcaster Societe d’edition de Canal Plus (SECP), the company announced yesterday at its Q1 2015 results.
The group currently holds a 48.5% stake via its DTH…
Vivendi has proposed a €7.60 per share tender offer to buy out French free to air broadcaster Societe d’edition de Canal Plus (SECP), the company announced yesterday at its Q1 2015 results.
The group currently holds a 48.5% stake via its DTH provider Canal+ Group, a 100% owned subsidiary.
The offer, worth up to €467m, values the business at some €962m and represents a 19.1% premium over yesterday’s closing share price of €6.38 per share).
Vivendi said that “a large number” of SECP shareholders had requested the “friendly transaction”, also citing a change to French law in 2009 enabling Canal+ to increase its stake in the free to air channel.
This “friendly transaction”, which has been approved by Vivendi’s Supervisory Board, will be paid in cash, the company said.
As part of its strategy to beef up on content, Vivendi is also in exclusive talks to buy 80% of video website Dailymotion from Orange for €217m.
Vivendi said it would formalise its offer, approved by its supervisory board, in the coming weeks, once it has filed a statement with media regulator Conseil Superieur de l‘Audiovisuel.
The media group said it did not intend to squeeze out the remaining SECP shareholders, but reserved the right to do so if its tender offer reached 95% of total shares.
