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Paris (AFP)
The major maneuvers are continuing at Lagardère: its two first shareholders, the media group Vivendi and the activist fund Amber Capital, are joining forces to ask for representation on the supervisory board, in order to oppose the controversial manager Arnaud Lagardère but also to counter the influence of Bernard Arnault.
On Tuesday, the two parties announced the signing of a “pact” with a view to obtaining “on the supervisory board a minority representation of three members for Amber Capital and one member for Vivendi”, according to a statement from the latter.
They will jointly make an amicable written request within ten days to convene a general meeting and, in the event of refusal, will be united to claim it before the courts, specifies the Financial Markets Authority, which published the agreement between the two shareholders. The latter then undertake to vote “in favor of the resolutions necessary for the implementation” of the new appointments.
The announcement confirms the turnaround of Vincent Bolloré, the strong man of Vivendi, who took a stake shortly before the general meeting of last May to save the stake of Arnaud, only son of the founder of the company Jean -Luc Lagardère, facing Amber who wanted to completely renew the supervisory board: support then qualified as “friendly” and justified by the links between the two families.
Since then, Vivendi (up to 23.5% of the shares) and Amber Capital (20%) have separately expressed their desire to be represented on this board, the only body likely to oppose the renewal of the mandate of manager of the board. heir, expected in early 2021. For the British fund, this is the third attempt since a first failure at the 2018 general meeting.
The pact between the two shareholders “does not create any agreement between the signatories on the strategy or the control of Lagardère” which would oblige them to launch a takeover bid, says Amber. It also provides for a right of first offer and a right of reciprocal pre-emption: if Vivendi or Amber sells its units, the other will have priority to buy them back.
– “very bad results” –
Officially, the announcement is motivated by “the very poor” financial results of Lagardère, hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic which in particular caused the collapse of its distribution activity in transport locations (stations and airports).
The group, also parent company of Europe 1, Paris Match and Journal du Dimanche, recorded a net loss of 481 million euros in the first half, against a profit of 52 million euros a year earlier.
Amber and Vivendi should also work for the transformation into a limited company of Lagardère, currently a limited partnership by shares. This long-standing fight by Amber Capital, which criticizes the management of Mr. Lagardère, was at the heart of the general meeting of May 5. The new shareholders of Lagardère “will replace governance sooner or later,” Joseph Oughourlian, the founder of Amber, said at the end of the meeting on the BFM Business channel.
The atypical status of the Lagardère group allows Arnaud Lagardère (general partner) to retain control with only around 7% of the capital. In return, he is responsible indefinitely for the debts of the company on his own property.
The pact finally allows Vivendi and Amber to join forces against the influence of Bernard Arnault, the billionaire at the head of the luxury group LVMH. He announced at the end of May that he would pay off part of Arnaud Lagardère’s debts against 25% of the shares in the heir’s personal holding company.
This surprise arrival had called into question the hope of several shareholders to see things evolve rapidly within governance, and allows Mr. Arnault to become essential for any strategic decision affecting the activities of Lagardère SCA, in particular the disposals of active.
Contacted Tuesday by AFP, the Lagardère group did not comment.
© 2020 AFP
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