Vivendi Moves Toward SFR Spinoff

PARIS--Vivendi SA (VIV.FR) Wednesday moved toward implementing a long-discussed plan to spin off French telecommunications arm SFR, a decision made at a board meeting where the company's most prominent personalities buried the hatchet on a simmering leadership dispute.

Vivendi will launch a formal study on a plan to split into two separate companies, one including SFR, and the other its remaining assets such as French pay-TV company Canal Plus and California-based Universal Music Group, the company said in a statement.

A decision on the plan could be made at the beginning of 2014 and submitted for approval at Vivendi's annual meeting in the spring.

The spin-off would be the biggest move yet in a year-long plan by Vivendi chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou to get rid of the company's telecommunications businesses and focus on a smaller array of media assets that he believes will be better valued on the stock market.

At the same time, Vivendi said French industrialist Vincent Bollore will become vice chairman of the company's board, a move that helps settle a boardroom fight with Mr. Fourtou that had spilled out into public over the last week.

Mr. Bollore, who joined the Vivendi board last autumn, had opposed a candidate to be chief executive backed by Mr. Fourtou, and had also been irked by Mr. Fourtou's reluctance to put a timeframe on when he might step down and cede the chairmanship, according to a person familiar with the matter.

There was no word in Wednesday's statement on when Mr. Fourtou might step down, but Mr. Bollore is quoted as having "thanked and aid tribute to Mr. Fourtou and guaranteed him his full support."

Write to Sam Schechner at [e-mail]; follow Sam Schechner at @samschech

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