Bolloré now controls over 15% of Vivendi

Vincent Bolloré

Bolloré Group now controls over 15% of Vivendi’s shares following the cancellation of additional shares by the media giant last week.

Vivendi has cancelled 86,874,701 of its own shares, representing 6.35% of the total outstanding shares, as part of its repurchase programme.

In addition to owning 15.41% of Vivendi shares, Bolloré now controls 16.41% of the company’s voting rights, further strengthening chairman Vincent Bolloré’s control of the company.

Bolloré said that, given that the passing of the threshold was the result of the cancellation of shares rather than their purchase, it could not exclude raising its holding further through acquiring shares if the market presented the opportunity to do so.

Bolloré Group said that it did not envisage taking control of Vivendi and that its investment highlighted its confidence in the media group’s strategy.

Vincent Bolloré initially acquired a 5% stake in Vivendi in 2014 as a result of the sale of his free TV channels, becoming president of the media group’s supervisory council and has strengthened his grip on the company is a series of moves subsequently.

Separately, Vivendi has announced that it now holds over 95% of Gameloft, the mobile-focused French games company it acquired in a hostile takeover after a long battle with the company’s owners, the Guillemot family, for control.