Vivendi intends to file Monday its proposed takeover bid on the shares of the Lagardère group, which it does not yet hold, with the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), he announced Friday in a press release.
The French media behemoth, a subsidiary of the Bolloré group, also intends to raise its offer. Initially set at 24.10 euros per share, it will be set at 25.50 euros per share for shareholders wishing to sell their stake “immediately”, without the expiry date being known yet. Vivendi already owns some 45% of the Lagardère group.
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Concerns in the publishing industry
Arnaud Lagardère, CEO of the eponymous group founded by his father, recalled Thursday his support for the operation during the presentation of the company’s results. The latter indicated that he planned to slightly increase his stake in the group from “3 or 4% to reach 15% in the near future”. The Lagardère group, present in the media (Europe, JDD, Paris Match), publishing (Hachette Livre) and retail trade in stations and airports, reduced its loss to 101 million euros in 2021, once morest a loss of 688 million euros in 2020.
Lagardère shareholders who do not tender their shares immediately may nevertheless “sell to Vivendi, for a price of 24.10 euros, until December 15, 2023, the shares they have not tendered to the offer. ‘purchase,’ assures Vivendi. The prospect of this transaction raises many fears in the publishing sector due to the monopolistic position it would give to the Vivendi group, in particular on certain aspects of publishing, an aspect which must also be arbitrated by the Autorité competition and Brussels. The Lagardère group’s media, for their part, were overhauled last year under the leadership of their new largest shareholder Vivendi, following the example of the Europe 1 radio station, which merged with the CNews news channel in Canal+ group.
