Vivendi shareholders vote to split up French media giant, with Canal+ to list on London Stock Exchange

Shareholders at Vivendi have voted almost unanimously in favour of splitting up the French media giant four ways, which will see pay TV outfit Canal+ become a standalone company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Vincent Bolloré

Canal+ is the largest of three companies being spun out of parent business Vivendi, the other two being advertising agency Havas, which will now be listed in Amsterdam, and book publisher Louis Hachette Group, which will be listed in Paris.

At a meeting in Paris on Monday, over 97.5% of shareholders present voted in favour of the plan, which has been driven by majority shareholder billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who holds a 30% stake.

Analysts believe the French group’s book is worth between €6bn (US6.3bn) and €7bn. However, if Canal+’s $2.9bn acquisition of South African media group MultiChoice goes ahead in early 2025, as expected, the combined business could be boosted to around €10bn.

Launched as a pay TV channel in 1984, Canal+ now has around 27 million subscribers to its channels and streaming services across 50 countries. Around 60% of those subscribers are outside France. The company also operates a TV and film studio arm, StudioCanal, which owns the rights to family property Paddington.

Although the company would still be headquartered in France, the London listing is part of Canal+’s growing global strategy. In addition to the proposed MultiChoice deal, the company is also considering taking a majority stake in Asian streamer Viu and making an investment in Scandinavian OTT platform Viaplay.

Vivendi chairman, and Vincent’s son, Yannick Bolloré said: “This indisputable result confirms this strong support of our shareholders for this transformative transaction.

“The supervisory board would like to warmly thank [Vivendi CEO] Arnaud de Puyfontaine and the whole management board, all the teams involved in this project, our different advisors and our shareholders for their trust. We are convinced that this new chapter for Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette Group will be very promising and create value for all stakeholders.”