By Mauro Orru

Vivendi said shareholders gave it the go-ahead to break up and list its core businesses on the stock market, paving the way for a major structural overhaul of the conglomerate steered by the family of French billionaire Vincent Bollore.

The company said more than 97.5% of votes at a shareholders' meeting were in favor of plans to spin off its television business Canal+, its advertising and public relations business Havas and create a new company known as Louis Hachette Group to consolidate Vivendi's assets in publishing.

The media group floated plans to break up last December, saying its businesses would be better off as independent entities. Vivendi said Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group would start trading on Dec. 16 on the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Growth Paris, respectively.

A split would represent a major structural overhaul of Vivendi, more than three years after the conglomerate let go of Universal Music Group. The record label behind Taylor Swift was once Vivendi's most prized asset since it accounted for the lion's share of revenue growth. Universal Music underwent a spinoff from Vivendi in late 2021 and was listed in Amsterdam.

Vivendi said its own valuation had fallen significantly since shedding Universal Music, hindering its ability as a company to carry out significant transactions. The group said the goal of the split is to reduce the so-called conglomerate discount--a gap between a company's market value and that of the sum of its parts.

The group previously said Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group would keep their decision-making hubs and operational teams in France.

The remaining Vivendi group will continue to manage Gameloft--the maker of Asphalt 8 and Dungeon Hunter 5--and oversee a portfolio of investments such as Vivendi's stake in Universal Music. The group will remain listed on the Euronext Paris.

Shareholder approval of the split hasn't been unanimous: Investment firm CIAM, which holds a 0.025% stake in Vivendi, filed an interim injunction with a Paris court last month in an effort to postpone Monday's vote, but its request was rejected.

CIAM said after the vote that it would continue to pursue legal avenues in its bid to stop the split, which it said would go against the interests of minority shareholders and harm Paris as a financial hub.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2024 11:49 ET (16:49 GMT)

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