Media giant Vivendi has sold 7.1% of Universal Music Group to the fund led by US financier Bill Ackman and this share could rise to 10%, he said on Tuesday, an operation planned for weeks but slowed down by a setback.
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"Vivendi sells 7.1% of UMG's capital to Pershing Square Holdings, headed by William Ackman, with the possibility of selling it up to an additional 2.9% by September 9,"
Vivendi announced in a press release . The operation represents 2.8 billion dollars - 2.4 billion euros - and therefore values Universal at 35 billion euros.
With a catalog ranging from the Beatles to Rihanna, passing by Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga, the major Universal based in Santa Monica in California is the jewel of the Vivendi empire, representing a good part of its valuation and its growth thanks to the boom in streaming.
But the group, which wants to refocus on the media and advertising, intends to disengage in part.
He announced in May that he would list Universal on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange at the end of September, an operation that involves a distribution of shares for nearly 20 billion euros to current shareholders.
10% of Universal on sale
At the same time, Vivendi had also said it wanted to sell 10% of Universal, or some 3.5 billion euros, to a company controlled by William Ackman, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (PSTH). This is a Spac - “Special Purpose Acquisition Company” - a form of stock exchange entity without its own activity which has been in great fashion for over a year. However, the shareholders of this company had finally refused in July the operation, against a background of concerns about a refusal of it by the US stock market regulator, the SEC.
The repurchase will therefore be done in a more traditional form by the historical fund of William Ackman, Pershing Square Holdings, and its subsidiaries.
"Mr. Ackman has the possibility to acquire, by September 9, 2021, up to an additional 2.9% of the capital of UMG through funds that he manages or in which he holds the majority of economic interests, on the basis of the same valuation ”
, specifies Vivendi.
