Thirty investors of European and Canadian nationalities were dismissed on Wednesday by the Paris commercial court in an old dispute against the Vivendi group, from which they claimed a total of more than one billion euros in damages. 'a financial communication that they consider misleading between 2000 and 2002.
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The case dates back to the aftermath of the merger with Seagram and Canal Plus which had made Vivendi Universal (now Vivendi), then headed by Jean-Marie Messier, one of the biggest media groups in the world. risky acquisitions in all directions. But in July 2002, despite a euphoric communication from its CEO, the markets realized that VU was stunned by a debt of 35 billion euros. Its share price drops sharply. Jean-Marie Messier ended up resigning.
This departure is not enough for shareholders who accuse Vivendi of having ruined them with misleading financial communication.
In the United States in 2010, a popular jury clears Jean-Marie Messier and his financial director, but condemns Vivendi to pay more than $ 4 billion in damages.
On the other hand, the decision at the time excluded certain shareholders who were not American or who had not bought their shares in the United States.
They then assigned Vivendi in France in 2011 and 2012.
"No mistake"
The time to collect and analyze all the documents, many of which have not been translated into French or English and which have been discarded, and to organize two plea hearings, the judges of the commercial court did not render their decisions until Wednesday, in five separate judgments, subject to appeal.
"The court finds ultimately that no fault of the company Vivendi resulting from the communication of false information or from the withholding of information is established for the period from October 2000 to August 2022"
, writes the court in one of the decisions, consulted by AFP.
"The commercial court really examined the case on the merits, rejected all the arguments of the plaintiffs and, exceptionally, ordered the plaintiffs to pay Vivendi more than 3 million euros"
as compensation for the costs of justice engaged, told AFP Hervé Pisani, the lawyer for the media giant, now controlled by Vincent Bolloré.
"These decisions are consistent with those already rendered in France on this issue and on facts dating back twenty years," said
Vivendi in a
press
release.
