Seagram interested in Vivendi assets

[jondbrien]

Does anyone know if this a good or a bad thing? The story can be found below.

Bronfman Eyes Vivendi's Assets in U.S.
2 hours, 54 minutes ago


PARIS - Edgar Bronfman Jr. of Canada's Seagram empire has expressed an interest in buying part of Vivendi Universal's U.S. assets, the debt-plagued French media giant said Wednesday.



Bronfman — who is currently vice-chairman of Vivendi's board — has told Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou he wants to lead a consortium of potential buyers for the assets, the company said in a statement.


Those include the world's largest music company, Vivendi Universal Music, as well as the Universal film studio and theme parks and the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks.


Bronfman and his father, Edgar M. Bronfman, became members of Vivendi's board when the company acquired Canada's Seagram in 2000.


After the merger, the Bronfman family became Vivendi's main shareholder. As of March 31, the family had a 4.23 percent stake in Vivendi.


To avoid a possible conflict of interest, Fourtou called a meeting of Vivendi's corporate governance committee last Monday to discuss the potential bid, the company said.


It said that both Bronfman and his father had agreed to stop sitting on Vivendi board or committee meetings and to suspend a number of provisions in their joint agreements.


Bronfman Jr. did not attend a Vivendi committee meeting Monday during which the disposal of the U.S. assets was discussed, the company said. "It was verified that (Bronfman Jr.) doesn't possess any recent and substantial information" on the potential sale, it added.


Vivendi's assets in the United States have also attracted the interest of U.S. companies Liberty Media Corp., General Electric Co. and Viacom Inc.


Since he took over 10 months ago, Fourtou has pursued a fire sale of assets to trim the company's massive debts, racked up during a spending spree by flamboyant former chairman Jean-Marie Messier.


Fourtou has indicated he plans to tame Vivendi into a much more modest concern centered on telecommunications


He confirmed to shareholders last month that he is in talks to sell, either fully or in part, Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which includes the studios and theme parks.

[uisceboo]

Originally posted by jondbrien
[B]Does anyone know if this a good or a bad thing?

No way to know, since, it depends WHICH assets they are interested in buying.

[Digger]

See the thread titled Suprise New Bidder for Vivendi Assets. There are a few more articles about this.

[uisceboo]

OK, this is the poop:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/city/story/0,7497,960516,00.html

The original owner is interested in buying what he sold back. it is not known yet if he will actually make a bid, or if he will buy everything. Remember, this is BIDDING -- the high bidder will win, and only if Vivendi accepts the bid -- they can refuse if they find reason to.

Nothing is going to change significantly in the next hours, days, weeks. They have a sale timetable such as they hope to have the VUE assets sold <sigh> by the end of the year.

As mentioned, hop on over to the Courting Viacom thread and stay tuned.

[10SCgal]

http://www.iht.com/articles/97140.html (http://http://www.iht.com/articles/97140.html)

Headline from NYT biz wire reads:

Shares rise for Vivendi as Bronfman works on bid

Shares of Vivendi Universal SA rose Wednesday after the company confirmed reports that Edgar Bronfman Jr. was trying to put together a group to buy back many of the entertainment properties his family sold to Vivendi.

Executives close to the negotiations said companies considering joining Bronfman in bidding for the Vivendi assets included Cablevision Systems Corp., one of the largest U.S. cable operators, and several private equity firms including Quadrangle, led by Steven Rattner, a member of the Cablevision board.

Other private investment firms Bronfman approached, the executives said, include Providence Equity, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co. and Blackstone Group, which is said to be interested in acquiring the half of Universal's theme parks that it does not already own.

"There are people saying to Edgar that they are interested, but that is about it," said one executive whose firm had been approached. "But it is an extremely low probability that the deal gets done."

Vivendi said Wednesday that it had suspended Bronfman and his father from the board after he told the company that he planned to head a consortium of potential buyers for the entertainment units, Reuters reported.

Vivendi's shares finished 80 cents higher at E14.70 ($17.21) in Paris.

Vivendi, weighed down by a heavy debt load, has said it wants to sell its U.S. entertainment assets. The company is scheduled to meet next week with two possible bidders, the NBC network and Viacom Inc. The properties include Universal's film and television studios, theme parks, its music company - the largest in the United States - and USA Networks and the Sci-Fi Channel.

A purchase of all the entertainment assets would cost $15 billion to $17 billion, not including $5 billion in debt. Vivendi has indicated that it would like to complete a sale by early summer.

One person who has worked with Bronfman said that if he succeeded in reacquiring the entertainment properties, he might want to oversee the music business, which is his first love.

Bronfman was instrumental in the 1994 purchase by Seagram Co., his family's business, of MCA Inc., Universal Studios' parent, from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. He arranged the 2000 sale of the Universal properties to Vivendi. The Vivendi experiment collapsed as the Internet bubble deflated, at a huge cost to big shareholders like the Bronfmans.

The New York Times

[Stargate2077]

One person who has worked with Bronfman said that if he succeeded in reacquiring the entertainment properties, he might want to oversee the music business, which is his first love.


That is going to be hard since Vivendi Universal is not willing to give up Universal Music.