Vivendi Has No Plans to Propose Nominations for Lagardere's Supervisory Board

By Mauro Orru

Vivendi SA has no plans to put forward nominations for Lagardere SCA's supervisory board, according to a statement on Friday from French market regulator AMF.

The announcement comes just days after Vivendi bought a 10.6% stake in the French media company, citing its confidence in future prospects for Lagardere, which Vivendi said is "experiencing difficult times."

Vivendi currently owns 10.98% of Lagardere SCA's share capital and 8.22% in voting rights, according to the AMF statement.

Analysts at U.S. bank Citi and European investment bank Bryan Garnier earlier in the week pointed to press reports suggesting that Lagardere CEO Arnaud Lagardere had been seeking help from French industrialists, such as Vincent Bollore, in a standoff with activist fund Amber Capital, which owns more than 18% of Lagardere's share capital and 14% of voting rights.

Lagardere late Monday said that it was urging shareholders to reject 15 resolutions submitted by Amber Capital to replace all members of its supervisory board and appoint eight new independent members.

Amber said in statement on Wednesday that proxy advisors Glass Lewis, Proxivest and ISS backed its "proposals for a significant change in the composition of the supervisory board, including the revocation of the current chairman."

The fund added that the three advisors were against the service agreement between Lagardere and LC&M, the managing partner's personal holding entity.

Write to Mauro Orru at [e-mail]; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 24, 2020 08:27 ET (12:27 GMT)

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