Vivendi’s Vincent Bolloré Consolidates Control Of Company

Vincent Bolloré

The battle for control of UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP's parent company VIVENDI SA was largely resolved YESTERDAY (4/20), as Chairman VINCENT BOLLORÉ, "won his bid as a group of minority shareholders failed in their resolution seeking to overrule a French law giving shareholders double voting rights for shares held over two years," reports THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Earlier this month (NET NEWS 4/2), ALL ACCESS reported BOLLORÉ had boosted his stake in VIVENDI SA for the third time in a month as a public quarrel with its shareholder P. SCHOENFELD ASSET MANAGEMENT LP was heating up. GROUPE BOLLORÉ, the conglomerate controlled by  BOLLORÉ, increased its stake in VIVENDI to 12.01% from 10.2% after purchasing 24.6 million more shares for a total of eu568 million ($615 million). The move happened after VIVENDI issued a statement in reaction to a press report about a potential challenge to its strategy from U.S. hedge fund PSAM reaffirming that its UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP unit is not for sale and that the company was set on creating a global industrial content and media group.

Now GROUPE BOLLORÉ controls 14.5% of the capital and a larger percentage of voting rights.

“Clearly, I strongly believe that VIVENDI can develop itself a lot,” said BOLLORÉ. “Why would I invest 4 billion euros in a company in which I don’t believe?”

THE JOURNAL notes, "BOLLORÉ said finding the right acquisition targets at the right price isn't easy in a field courted by many different players. VIVENDI wants to find targets that can create value by working together with VIVENDI’s existing activities, namely UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP and pay TV CANAL PLUS."

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