Media giant Vivendi has sold a total of 10% of Universal Music Group to the fund led by US financier Bill Ackman, he said on Tuesday, an operation that was delayed but was ultimately completed.
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"
Vivendi is pleased to announce that Pershing Square has committed to acquire an additional 2.9% stake in UMG capital for a price of US $ 1.149 billion based on an enterprise value of 35 billion euros for 100% of the capital of UMG
”, announced the group, which had already sold in August 7.1% of UMG to the fund of Bill Ackman.
Strategic refocusing for Vivendi
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 partially disengage. 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.
At the same time, Vivendi had also said it wanted to sell 10% of Universal, or some 3.5 billion euros, to a SPAC - "
Special Purpose Acquisition Company
" - controlled by Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (PSTH).
This form of stock exchange entity without its own activity has been very popular for over a year.
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The shareholders of this company had finally refused in July the transaction, against a background of concerns about a refusal of it by the US stock market regulator, the SEC.
The repurchase will therefore be in a more traditional form by the historic fund of Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Holdings, and its subsidiaries.
