Vivendi Increases Lagardere Stake to 21.19%

By Mauro Orru

Vivendi SA has increased its stake in Lagardere SCA to 21.19%, French market regulator AMF said in a statement on Wednesday.

The AMF said the French media company had 21.19% of Lagardere's share capital and 16.01% in voting rights as of July 10.

The announcement comes nearly three months after Vivendi bought a 10.6% stake in Lagardere, also a French media company, which Vivendi said was "experiencing difficult times."

Vivendi said at the time it had no plans to put forward nominations for Lagardere's supervisory board.

However, the latest AMF statement cites Vivendi as saying that it plans to request the appointment of one or more people as members of the supervisory board.

Groupe Arnault agreed in late May to buy a 25% stake in the Lagardere family holding.

The build-up in stakes from French entities came as Lagardere sought to fend off attempts from activist investor Amber Capital to overhaul the company's legal structure and oust Mr. Lagardere as chief executive.

Amber Capital also ramped up its stake in Lagardere in the past few months before pushing for changes at Lagardere's annual general meeting, although shareholders rejected Amber's proposals.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 15, 2020 06:10 ET (10:10 GMT)

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