Arnaud Lagardère, at the head of the industrial and media empire built by his father Jean-Luc. (AFP / JULIEN DE ROSA)
Qatar “could consider purchasing or selling shares (of) Lagardère depending on market opportunities and/or applicable regulatory requirements”, he said in a press release relayed by Lagardère on Sunday 8 may.
Qatar, Lagardère’s minority shareholder with 11.5%, announced in a press release on Sunday May 8 that it
does not “intend”
to tender its shares to the takeover bid launched by Vivendi – which does not call into question the success of the operation.
Qatar, via its dedicated holding company, “could consider purchasing or selling shares (of) Lagardère
depending on market opportunities
and/or applicable regulatory requirements,” he said.
Owner of 45% of Lagardère titles, Vivendi, the group controlled by Vincent Bolloré, saw its proposed bid for the leader in French publishing via Hachette Livre and owner of influential media
(Europe 1, JDD, Paris Match)
be
approved by the financial markets authority
last mid-April.
Vivendi entered the capital of Lagardère in the spring of 2020, so
weakened by the Covid-19 crisis
(in particular on its network of stores in train stations and airports) and
threatened by a shareholder revolt.
A subsidiary supply mechanism
Media heavyweight,
owner of Canal + but also of Editis and Havas,
Vivendi was able to join forces with the activist fund Amber Capital to obtain a transformation of the impregnable Lagardère citadel into an ordinary and above all “operable” public limited company.
After leading the battle, Arnaud Lagardère, at the head of the industrial and media empire built by his father Jean-Luc, who died in 2003, had to
resolve to welcome “the Vivendi group and the Bolloré family,
guarantee of stability and support for our culture, our strategy and our integrity over the long term”, he had recently written to his shareholders. The latter will be able, until May 20, to
sell their shares to Vivendi
at 25.50 euros per share (including the dividend of 50 cents proposed by Lagardère for the 2021 financial year).
But he also imagined
a subsidiary offer mechanism,
which allows him to acquire any remaining shares at a price of 24.10 euros until December 15, 2023.
Arnaud Lagardère, CEO until 2027
Confronted with a
heavy personal debt,
Arnaud Lagardère, who has obtained to remain CEO until 2027, has however already expressed his intention to contribute his 15.6 million shares (i.e. 11% of the capital). Bernard Arnault, who owns nearly 10% of Lagardère via Financière Agache, announced last Friday that he had
the intention to contribute 2% of the capital
to the “main offer” during the first public offer period.
“Financière Agache intends to contribute the balance of its stake,
i.e. 11,250,977 Lagardère SA shares,
to the subsidiary offer in the event of the reopening of this public offer”, she further specified in a press release.