Contrasted start on the markets: the split of the French media and publishing giant Vivendi, effective since Monday, gave rise to the listing of three new entities in London, Amsterdam and Paris, including Canal+ in decline.
Introduced with fanfare at the London Stock Exchange, the television group fell by more than 15% by mid-morning.
Havas (communications) gained 6% at Euronext Amsterdam, while Louis Hachette Group (which brings together Hachette Livre, French leader in the sector, Relay in distribution, media such as Europe 1, JDD, Voici, Géo…) climbed 25% in Paris on the Euronext Growth market, regulated but not regulated.
For these companies, which keep billionaire Vincent Bolloré as a reference shareholder, this first day could experience great volatility.
Maxime Saada, boss of Canal+, does not expect the share price which concerns him to “follow a path paved with roses in the first weeks, the first months”. “We will measure the success of this IPO in two to three years,” he said in the French newspaper Le Figaro.
The holding company Vivendi remains on the Paris Stock Exchange and also jumped on Monday morning. It will continue to manage various minority stakes as well as the 100%-owned video game publisher Gameloft.
For one Vivendi share held before the split, one Canal+ share, one Havas and one Louis Hachette Group share were allocated, and the Vivendi share is retained. Ultimately, Vivendi should exit the CAC 40 due to the mechanical drop in its valuation.
A first step was successfully completed on December 9, a week before the IPO: the split project was approved by shareholders, by more than 97%.
According to the chairman of the management board, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, “a new chapter in its history” is opening for Vivendi, which had some 73,000 employees at the end of 2023.
– Prudent revaluation –
Why this operation, announced a year ago? The group's price “did not reflect the true value of its assets”, recalled Yannick Bolloré, son of Vincent Bolloré and chairman of the supervisory board of Vivendi, which constituted “a handicap for our shareholders and for the development of our activities “.
Monday morning, the total valuation of Canal+, Havas, Louis Hachette Group and the holding company reached almost 9 billion euros – a little more than the 8.55 billion on Friday at the close. There is therefore no “explosion of value” at this stage, notes a portfolio manager.
The bet, for the group, is that the sum of the four independent values will increase.
At the end of October, Yannick Bolloré put forward a valuation of the whole “around 16 billion” euros, including 6.8 billion for Canal+, 3.4 billion for Havas, 2.1 billion for Louis Hachette Group and 4.5 billion for Vivendi.
The operation “does not provide any certainty”, considered the management company Phitrust in November.
Before shareholders, Vivendi executives defended their choice, asserting that there was no alternative.
Thus, for Canal+ in London, “the strategy is clearly to take the group internationally” and to allow “increased visibility in English-speaking markets”, underlined Yannick Bolloré.
Two thirds of subscribers are already outside France and this proportion is set to increase with the public purchase offer launched for the South African television giant MultiChoice.
– “OPA hostile” –
Canal+ has reached “a critical size, with 27 million subscribers in more than 50 countries and we are targeting 50 to 100 million in the coming years,” according to Maxime Saada.
Concerning Havas, the Amsterdam location was selected for the possibility of creating a foundation there to shelter it from a possible hostile takeover bid and thus reassure its teams.
The head offices remain in France, except that of Havas. The companies will all be French tax residents.
The split made some small shareholders jump: they fear losing and seeing Vincent Bolloré, who has taken the helm of Vivendi since 2014, strengthen his control.
The Bolloré group held 29.9% of Vivendi until Monday, and will reach around 31% in the new entities. He could easily move into Havas and Louis Hachette Group in the coming months, according to financial observers.
The activist fund CIAM (0.025% of Vivendi's capital) is continuing its legal appeals to obtain the annulment of the split, which according to its managers “circumvents the law on mandatory takeover bids”.
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