PARIS (Reuters) – The activist fund CIAM announced on Tuesday that it had contacted the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) to protest against the terms of the proposed partial split of Vivendi into three entities, which the group wishes to list on three different stock exchanges.
Vivendi announced at the end of 2023 a plan to split Canal+, Havas and Hachette. The French group wants to list these three entities separately in London, Amsterdam and on Euronext Growth in Paris, respectively.
These three stock exchanges, judge CIAM in a press release, “are less respectful of the rights of minority shareholders” due to the different rules they follow in matters of public offerings.
According to the activist fund, this project would allow the controlling shareholder, the Bolloré group, to “empty Vivendi of its essential assets while strengthening its control over Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group without having to launch a public offer “.
CIAM holds “less than 1%” of Vivendi’s capital, the fund said.
Vivendi’s supervisory board, chaired by Yannick Bolloré, validated on Monday the group’s proposed stock market split, which will therefore be separated into four: Canal+, Havas, Louis Hachette and Vivendi SE. The detailed plan, published Tuesday, must be submitted to a shareholder vote on December 9.
(Report Florence Loève, written by Kate Entringer)
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