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Vivendi’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the French media conglomerate’s plan to split itself into four entities, including a London listing for pay-TV operator Canal+, which is set to be the City’s biggest IPO in over two years.
The investors’ backing is a victory for billionaire industrialist Vincent Bolloré, who controls the group with a near-30 per cent stake, as he masterminds a wider reorganisation of the family’s businesses that span media, entertainment, logistics and transportation. It also spells the de facto end of a company that has evolved from its roots in the water business in France.
The reorganisation championed by Bolloré is only the latest example of how the billionaire has remade and whittled down the company during his over decade-long reign, generating big returns for the family.
The split-up project won about 97 per cent support for each motion at a shareholder meeting in Paris on Monday, paving the way for the spin-offs and listings to take place on December 16 and validating the company’s plans despite some criticism from minority shareholders.
Vivendi will split out and float pay-TV group Canal+ in London, while its advertising company Havas will be listed in Amsterdam and its publishing division, Louis Hachette Group, in Paris. Vivendi will remain listed in Paris.
The company has argued that the group’s market valuation is less than the sum of its assets, and the split will give each of the businesses more ballast for investment and deals. That will now be put to the test.
“We are delighted with the very high adoption rate of our spin-off project. This indisputable result confirms the strong support of our shareholders for this transformative transaction,” said Yannick Bolloré, Vincent Bolloré’s son, who is chair of Vivendi’s supervisory board.
A two-thirds majority was required to validate the motions at the shareholder meeting in Paris on Monday. Vivendi shares were up 1.25 per cent on Monday for a market value of €9.1bn. Vincent Bolloré remains the key decision maker in the family businesses, despite having ostensibly retired in 2022.
Canal+, the largest of the three businesses, is expected to have a market capitalisation of between €6bn and €8bn, according to people close to the operation. This would make it the largest primary listing in London since Haleon was spun out of GSK in 2022 at a market valuation of about £30bn.
The move provides a boost to London’s listings market, which has suffered from a dearth of large listings in recent years and been hit by a series of companies being taken private. Canal+ says the listing will increase its presence in the anglophone world, which it sees as its growth market, although the company will continue to be headquartered and to pay taxes in France.
“We used to be a French company, completely relying on the French market for its revenues, its profits, its rights and most of its stuff. And we have transformed into a company that is now international. I cannot say global yet, but that’s the plan,” chief executive Maxime Saada told the Financial Times last month.
Vivendi has long argued that its assets created greater value together but many investors have viewed the group as a holding for Bollore’s various business interests than a cohesive entity.
It spun out Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest label representing artists including Taylor Swift and Bob Dylan, in 2020, but the conglomerate discount on the group’s continued to widen.
Before turning to the Vivendi break-up, the 72-year-old corporate raider sold several businesses held by Bolloré Group, the family’s transportation and logistics company, in recent years.
