France's Vivendi eyes London listing for Canal+ TV arm
French media group Vivendi said Monday it plans to list its television unit, Canal+, on the London stock exchange and its communications firm Havas in Amsterdam if it goes forward with splitting up the company.
Vivendi announced last December that it would study breaking up the company to unlock value in its different operations, believing that their opportunities were being limited by belonging to a group.
"To date, the study has demonstrated the feasibility of this project under satisfactory conditions and identified the most suitable stock exchanges for these three companies once separated from Vivendi, considering the nature of their activities and their international exposure," the company said.
It added that despite being listed abroad, both Canal+ and Havas would remain incorporated and taxed in France.
A newly named Louis Hachette Group to group all of Vivendi's publishing and distribution activities would be listed in Paris.
Vivendi said it would now begin consulting employee representatives and said a decision to go forward on the project could be taken as soon as the end of October, with a shareholder vote in December.
A Canal+ listing in London would be a boon for the London Stock Exchange which has struggled to attract new listings.
Vivendi shares were down less than 0.1 percent in late afternoon trading while the Paris stock exchange's blue-chip CAC 40 index was up 1.4 percent.
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© Agence France-Presse
Source: AFP
