FRANCE. Media powerhouse Vivendi today announced the accelerated acquisition of Lagardère shares owned by Amber Capital, a move initially revealed on 15 September. An offer for all remaining shares in the Lagardère Travel Retail parent company is now expected by February.
As reported, Vivendi struck an agreement in September to acquire fellow shareholder Amber’s 24,685,108 shares, representing 17.5% of the Lagardère Group share capital, at a price of €24.10 per share.
The deal was due to have been completed by 15 December 2022, but will now take place “in coming days”, said Vivendi, giving it control of 45.1% of the Lagardère share capital.
That paves the way for a full share takeover, at €24.10 per share, which Vivendi said would now happen as soon as February 2022.
The move to acquire Amber Capital’s stake has been accelerated, said Vivendi, following recent analysis of the rules on acquisitions. It said that to comply with merger regulations, it would not exercise the voting rights associated with the Amber Capital shares until approvals required for the acquisition for control of Lagardère had been received from the competition authorities.
“As a result, the Vivendi Management Board has decided to authorise the immediate acquisition of the Lagardère shares owned by Amber Capital,” said Vivendi.
Authorisations to acquire control of Lagardère will be applied for with the European Commission and other relevant competition authorities during 2022, said Vivendi.
The Lagardère share price rose by around +5% to €24.22 by 1630 Paris time today.
