Vivendi eyes international transformative deals
Vivendi , the Paris-headquartered media and entertainment group, is keeping a close eye on transformative M&A opportunities internationally, Chairman Arnaud de Puyfontaine said today.
The aim is to create a global media champion, Puyfontaine said. The chairman, who was speaking at Medias 2014 in Paris, also added that Vivendi will be a "savy investor" and not overpay for assets. The company wants to be seen as a rigorous investor and will apply strict financial criteria to its acquisitions.
Puyfontaine was appointed chairman of the management board in June 2014. Prior to that he was a member of the management board and senior executive vice president in charge of the company’s media and content activities.
The French group’s overall cash position is expected to increase to up to EUR 8bn following disposals of its Brazilian unit GVT, Maroc Telecom and SFR, which expected to close in the coming months, as reported.
Vivendi estimates that it will have a net cash position of roughly EUR 4bn at the end of 2014.
The company will seize bolt-on opportunities to complement its activities, Puyfontaine said.
As for domestic consolidation and French regulatory concentration thresholds, he said that it no longer made sense to look at music, video, paid content, free content separately. The concentration thresholds criteria need to be redefined to create the conditions for the creation of a media champion, he said.
Vivendi shares are trading Thursday at EUR 20.24 per share, giving the company a market capital of EUR 27.29bn.