Vincent Bolloré has changed his mind. The strong man of the French media giant Vivendi has resolved after several months of arm wrestling with Brussels to sell 100% of the publishing group Editis to the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky to seize his rival Hachette, a subsidiary of Lagardère. much stronger internationally.
The “exclusive negotiations” announced on Tuesday between Vivendi and International Media Invest (IMI), a subsidiary of Daniel Kretinsky’s holding company CMI, are the ultimate remedy proposed to the European competition authorities, which have until May 23 to approve or reject takeover of Lagardère by Vivendi.
Publishing flagship
The Czech tycoon has accelerated his investments in French media in recent years through his press group CMI France (She, Marianne, TV 7 Days). He is also a co-shareholder of World and owns more than 5% of the TF1 group.
“I am very happy and proud of the possibility of becoming a shareholder in a publishing flagship like Editis if the process comes to an end. I am aware of the responsibilities that such an acquisition implies given the quality of the companies that make up the group and their place in French intellectual history”, reacted Daniel Kretinsky.
Editis is the French number two in publishing. With 789 million euros in turnover in 2022, it is smaller than Hachette Livres, which does most of its business abroad.
Ongoing negotiations
Faced with concerns about the upheaval of this market and, to a lesser extent, that of people magazines, the European Commission launched an in-depth investigation in the fall into the takeover of Lagardère by Vivendi, which had already risen to 57 last year. % of the capital after a tough shareholder battle but which cannot use all the associated voting rights for the moment.
Initially, Vincent Bolloré imagined merging the most beautiful publishing houses among the fifty owned by Editis (including Robert Laffont, Plon, Julliard, Le Robert or Pocket) with the Hachette Livre empire, the third largest publisher in the world, owner of Grasset, Fayard, Stock or Calmann Lévy. In the summer, the first discussions with Brussels led Vivendi to consider selling Editis.
While negotiations are still ongoing, Vivendi resigned itself on March 8 to lowering its valuation of its subsidiary by 300 million euros, due to the “low price level” offered by potential buyers. This depreciation had contributed to widening its net loss, to more than one billion euros in 2022.