Vivendi moves to take control of Lagardère

French media giant Vivendi has acquired investment outfit Amber Capital’s stake in media company Lagardère and will launch a bid to take complete control of the company.

Vivendi acquired 24,685,108 Lagardère shares from Amber Capital at a price of €24.10 per share, giving the media group a total of 63,693,239 Lagardère shares corresponding to 45.13% of the share capital.

Vivendi said that in February it will file a public tender offer for all Lagardère shares at €24.10 per share, identical to the price per share paid to Amber Capital.

If completed, the move, the speed of which has taken observers by surprise, will give Vivendi, owner of pay TV group Canal+, control of assets such as magazine Paris Match, current affairs and business title Le Journal du Dimanche, publisher Hachette, radio station Europe1 and the Relay chain of shops.

Lagardère, which previously owned a number of thematic channels, is no longer active in television.

Vivendi would have to obtain approval for the acquisition from competition regulator the Autorité de la Concurrence and audiovisual media regulator the CSA. Vivendi owns Hachette’s main competitor Editis.