French media and telecoms group Vivendi has finalised the sale of a 7.66% stake in US media group NBC Universal to General Electric for US$2bn.
The company said it would sell its remaining 12.34% holding for US$3.8bn following the completion of the…
French media and telecoms group Vivendi has finalised the sale of a 7.66% stake in US media group NBC Universal to General Electric for US$2bn.
The company said it would sell its remaining 12.34% holding for US$3.8bn following the completion of the GE-Comcast transaction. The question now is how Vivendi will spend the proceeds.
Earlier this month, Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy said that taking full control of French mobile operator SFR had always been a strategic objective for his company, which recently posted improved revenues of E13.98bn for H1 2010, up 6.1% compared to the first half of 2009. For his part, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said over the summer that his company did not wish to manage minority investments.
Market specialists believe that Vivendi, which currently holds 56% of SFR, could buy Vodafone’s 44% in the mobile operator before the end of the year.
During the 2010 half-year earnings call, early September, Levy also said that the company’s objective remained “full ownership of our France-based entities”, which include SFR but also DTH provider Canal+, in which it already owns 80%. Levy added that “there may well be opportunities in the near future”.
But a few weeks ago, French media group Lagardere announced it was pushing hard to list its 20% stake in Canal+ before the end of the year or at the beginning of 2011, after Vivendi declined to make a proposal, saying it preferred to keep its money to invest in telcos, according to Lagardere’s management board.
Under a 2007 shareholder agreement, Lagardere has a put an option to sell its 20% holding in Canal + to Vivendi between 15 March and 15 April every year until 2014 or list it if Vivendi refuses to buy it.
Lagardere had been hoping to get around E1.5bn for its 20% from Vivendi although back in April, Credit Suisse valued it closer to E1.2bn. A few months ago, Vivendi was said to have offered Lagardere just under E1.3bn but Lagardere is reportedly hoping to achieve a higher valuation through the public markets. But the sale of the NBCU stake by Vivendi may now trigger new deal talks for Canal+.
Over the past year, Vivendi increased its holding in Canal+, acquiring the 9.9% stake held by national broadcaster TF1 for E744m and the 5.1% holding of RTL-owned French broadcaster M6 for E384m. For H1 2010, Canal+ Group revenues reached E2.3bn, a 3.1% increase on H1 2009 results.
When contacted, a Vivendi spokesman declined to comment further on a potential acquisition of Canal+ by Vivendi.
