The French media giant Vivendi holds 57.35% of the capital of the Lagardère group following its takeover bid filed on February 21 on the owner of the publishing house Hachette and the media Europe 1, Paris Match and the JDD, a he announced in a press release on Tuesday.
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Read alsoVivendi takes control of Lagardère
Vivendi had already had a majority at Lagardère since the end of May, but Vincent Bolloré's group then wished to continue its public offer until June 9, maintaining a purchase price of 25 euros per share (including the 2022 dividend of 50 cents) .
He now holds 57.25% of the capital and 47.33% of the theoretical voting rights of Lagardère, he said in his press release.
However, he will only be able to exercise all of his powers after the approval of the operation by the competent authorities, in particular the European Commission, which could impose "
remedies
" to validate the marriage between the publishers Editis and Hachette, and Arcom (ex-CSA), which must decide on the takeover of Lagardère's radio stations (Europe 1, Virgin Radio and RFM).
Arnaud Lagardère ready to participate in the subsidiary offer
Until the end of 2023, shareholders who did not wish to sell their shares now, but who presented them to the so-called subsidiary branch of the takeover bid, will still be able to sell them, at the lower price of 24.1 euros per share.
This is the case for 31 million shares, said Vivendi, or about 22% of the capital of Lagardère.
Arnaud Lagardère, CEO of the group that bears his name and owner of 11% of the shares of the company, had announced that he would not bring his shares to the main offer, but had said he was ready to participate in the subsidiary offer.
This was also the case for a share of the capital held by Bernard Arnault, the boss of LVMH.
Vivendi had entered the capital of Lagardère in the spring of 2020, then weakened by the Covid-19 crisis (in particular on its network of stores in stations and airports) and threatened by a shareholder revolt.
Read alsoVivendi opens its management board to branch bosses
Vivendi was then able to join forces with the activist fund Amber Capital to obtain a transformation of the impregnable Lagardère citadel into an ordinary public limited company and above all likely to be the subject of a takeover bid.