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Vivendi placates noisy shareholder
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 9 April 2015
Bad news for fans of feuds between activist investors and large conglomerates with interests in music and entertainment. Come on, we all know who you are. Yes, I’m talking to you.
Well, Universal Music owner Vivendi has ended its public spat with P Schoenfeld Asset Management, the hedge fund which controls just under 1% of the entertainment group. How? With some filthy loot of course. Well, some pristine euros anyway.
Vivendi has confirmed that it will propose an additional dividend payment of two euros a share at its upcoming general meeting, and in return PSAM has agreed to withdraw resolutions it planned to submit at the same meeting to force the firm to pay out nine billion euros to its shareholders. The hedge fund added that it is now confident in the Vivendi management’s current strategy for growth, it having previously called for Universal Music to be sold off.
The shareholder deal reduces the cash pile available to Vivendi to fuel acquisition plans in media and entertainment, funds raised by the company selling off most of its telecoms and gaming assets in recent years. It remains to be seen what it means for Vivendi’s rumoured and somewhat ambitious plot to bid for Sky plc.
