Vivendi updates plan to list parts of Hachette Livre as separate entities on the stock market

Vivendi, owner of Hachette Livre, has updated its plans to carve up the group into separate entities to be listed on the stock market.

The group said it would create three companies. The book publisher — the largest in France — together with the retail outlets in railway stations and airports would be part of the new Louis Hachette Group. Named after the Hachette founder, it would include the 63.5% stake the group holds in Lagardère SA and 100% of Prisma Media.

The company would be listed on Euronext Growth in Paris alongside Lagardère SA, whereas the two others —Canal+ and Havas — would be listed in London and Amsterdam respectively.

The group’s statement on Monday 22nd July 2024 made no mention of a fourth company to look after group investments in culture, media and entertainment, which was flagged in December 2023.

The feasibility study on the project so far gives a green light to the project, which calls for all three entities to pay corporate income tax in France. Other tax issues “are still being studied”, the group added.

Following Vivendi’s takeover of the Lagardère group, the plan was first announced in December 2023 and aims to “fully unleash the development potential of all its activities,” the group said. This was because it had suffered from a “significantly high conglomerate discount” reducing its value and hampering its subsidiaries’ capacity to acquire other companies.

The project was presented to the Vivendi supervisory board on Monday 22nd and “could” be presented to an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in December, where it would need a two-thirds majority vote to go ahead.