Plans to split France's Vivendi into four companies contested in court

Minority Vivendi shareholder CIAM filed an injunction yesterday to block the French group’s plan to break it up into four companies, including book publisher Louis Hachette (Hachette Livre).

The plan is due to be presented to a Vivendi shareholder meeting on 9th December, unless the Paris Commercial Court decides on 4th December to grant the injunction, the group said in a statement.

CIAM, which bills itself as an independent alternative investment manager, wants to postpone the shareholder meeting until the courts have ruled on the validity of the carve-up and an obligation for the billionaire Vincent Bolloré to make a full takeover bid for Vivendi.

This is not the first time the investment firm has contested the plan and follows the financial markets regulator’s (AMF’s) rejection of its request to impose a full takeover.

The spin-offs, with three companies each listed on a different country’s stock exchange, would free Bolloré from French rules and having to buy the whole of Vivendi if he increased his stake from 29% to beyond 30%.

The investment firm, which holds less than 1% of Vivendi’s capital, says it “gives back to society” by donating 25% of its annual fees to children’s health and education charities around the world.

The Vivendi plan could increase Bolloré’s influence over each of the three entities to the detriment of other shareholders, and could include stronger control over Hachette, according to Bloomberg.

Vivendi, grouping periodicals, publishing and distribution assets, would still be listed on Euronext Paris (formerly known as the Paris Bourse).

Vivendi claims that two proxy advisory firms, ISS and Glass Lewis, have endorsed its plan and are “widely followed by shareholders”.

Vivendi repeated that the aim was to reduce “the significant conglomerate discount that has weighed on its valuation for several years and to accelerate the development of its separated business".