Vivendi Gets European Commission’s Approval to Acquire Lagardere

Vivendi, the guardian firm of Canal+ Group, has acquired the inexperienced gentle from the European Fee to proceed with the complete acquisition of Lagardère, the French media, publishing and journey retail conglomerate. Vivendi beforehand held a 57.35% stake in Lagardere following a public tender supply held final 12 months.

This European Fee has given its approval underneath Vivendi’s two proposed commitments, beginning with the sale of 100% of the share capital of its publishing group Editis, in addition to the complete sale of Gala journal. Vivendi stated it expects to shut each offers by the top of October. It entered into unique negotiations to promote Editis to a subsidiary of Czech Media Make investments (CMI) based by Daniel Kretinsky, in March. The Paris-based banner is house to Robert Laffont, Plon and Julliard, amongst others.

The European Fee had raised anti-trust considerations over Vivendi’s contemplated possession of each Hachette and Editis, main Vivendi to half methods with the latter.

With the acquisition of Lagardère group, Vivendi’s payroll will rise to 66,000 staff in comparison with 38,000 on the finish of December 2022, with a stronger presence in key markets corresponding to France, the U.Ok., Spain and the U.S. Lagardere is the guardian firm of Hachette Livre, a strong publishing home which owns Grasset, Fayard, Inventory, Le Livre de poche and Les Editions Albert René, amongst others.

The corporate stated it’s projecting its annual revenues to achieve roughly $18 billion (€17 billion) based mostly on 2022 outcomes, in comparison with round $10.7 billion (€10 billion) in the present day.

Lagardere’s consolidated income for 2022 rose by almost 29% to $7.42 billion, and recurring EBIT reached $470 million — in contrast with $267 million in 2021.

“The European Fee’s determination is good news for Vivendi which is able to now be capable of efficiently perform its bold growth plan with the Lagardère group. The transaction will align with our strategic ambition to internationalize our actions and our willpower to be a number one world participant in tradition and leisure,” stated Yannick Bolloré, Vivendi supervisory board chairman.

Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Vivendi’s CEO, stated, “This transaction will probably be profoundly transformative for our two teams. We totally intend to play to our respective strengths to put in writing collectively a brand new web page within the historical past of our corporations.”

“We’re desirous to see the groups of our two teams pool their know-how and capitalize on their respective complementarities to speed up the event of our actions and supply thrilling new views to the various abilities who’ve positioned their belief in us,” de Puyfontaine continued.