Billionaire Vincent Bolloré puts the family house in order. On the upper floors, he simplifies the cascade of holding companies through which he controls his flagship Bolloré SE. In the cellar, he cuts Vivendi into pieces, of which the Breton group holds 29.9%. But, for this, the financier must first obtain the approval of the other shareholders during a general meeting convened Monday, December 9 at the Folies-Bergère, in Paris.
The stakes are high: if the resolutions are approved by the required majority, three flagships of French communication and culture, Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group (Hachette Livre, Prisma Media, Lagardère Travel Retail), will become entities autonomous, listed on the stock exchange from December 16.
What “fully unleash their development potential”assures Vivendi. A very relative freedom: these companies will be more than 30% owned by Bolloré, each Vivendi share (where the game publisher Gameloft and some holdings will remain) giving right to one Canal+ share, one Havas share, one Louis Hachette Group share .
A “misguided” operation
The split, first mentioned in December 2023, excited investors. This division, a great stock market classic, aims to better promote subsidiaries hitherto lost in the middle of the holding company's bric-a-brac. Quick to make their calculations, financial analysts then estimated that, put together, the pieces of the Vivendi empire could be worth around 16 billion euros.
Now, expectations are more around 12 billion to 13 billion euros, an erosion which partly reflects the political turbulence in France. But not only that. “We thought the idea of the split was great. But its structuring, marred by a multitude of tricks intended to suit the main shareholder, derailed the project”deplores Andrzej Kawalec, general manager of Moneta Asset Management, which owns 0.6% of Vivendi
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“There are great assets, but we still need to make investors want to keep them”adds the manager, regretting “perfectible governance” et “minimalist financial communication”. And to conclude: “We are voting against this operation, without illusion because two voting agencies closely followed by investors recommend approving it. » ISS, in particular, considers this split favorable, despite Mr. Bolloré's small arrangements.
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