Vivendi shareholders approve the split into four companies: Vivendi, Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group

Vivendi shareholders meeting at a general meeting this Monday have approved with an “overwhelming” support of more than 97.5% the Group’s spin-off project, which will involve the segregation of Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group as independent listed companies, in addition by Vivendi. The French company is a shareholder with 1% of Telefónica and 11.8% of Prisa, publisher of El País and Cadena Ser.

The investor backing is a victory for billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who controls the group with a stake close to 30%. Bolloré, 72, has launched a reorganization of the family businesses that range from media to logistics and transportation.

Specifically, Canal+ will be listed on the London Stock Exchange and Havas on Euronext Amsterdam, while the shares of Louis Hachette Group, the company that brings together Vivendi’s 66.53% stake in Lagardère and 100% of Prisma Media, will at Euronext Growth Paris. For its part, Vivendi shares will continue to be listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

Thus, as planned, the first day of trading in the shares of these three companies will take place on December 16. Following the approval of the project at the general meeting, holders of Vivendi shares on December 13 will receive, for each title of the multinational, one share of Canal+, one share of Havas and one share of Louis Hachette Group, while they will maintain their Vivendi share. .

Yannick Bolloré, chairman of the supervisory board of Vivendi and CEO of Havas, has expressed satisfaction with the “very high” support for the spin-off project, which demonstrates the “strong support” of shareholders for the operation. “We are convinced that this new chapter for Canal+, Havas and the Louis Hachette Group will be very promising and will create value for all stakeholders,” he added.

Although the French multinational had previously argued that Vivendi was worth more collectively, they have now argued that it suffers a significantly high conglomerate discount, which substantially reduces its valuation and limits its ability to carry out growth transactions for its subsidiaries. Thus, in order to fully unleash the development potential of all its activities, the group decided to launch this spin-off project.