Vivendi shares soar on Universal Music float plan

“Vivendi’s major institutional shareholders have been pressing for a range of yrs for a break up or the distribution of Universal Audio Team,” it claimed.

A listing stock industry presence could give Universal a lot more monetary clout to compete with rivals Warner Audio and Sony Audio. It may well also narrow the price reduction that some buyers think is applied to Vivendi shares due to its holding structure.

“The complete transaction is aimed at liberating up the concealed benefit of Vivendi, whose industry benefit has been inferior to that of Universal’s itself recently,” a resource close the matter claimed.

The firm’s other assets vary from movies and Tv production to publishing and marketing.

“In 2022, Vivendi should really be refocused on all its other most important models (predominantly Groupe Canal+, Editis and Havas) along with its minority holdings including UMG as perfectly as Lagardere, Prisa and Spotify,” claimed Paris brokerage OddoBHF.

In December, Universal amazed the field by purchasing the legal rights to Bob Dylan’s complete again catalogue in a offer reportedly really worth a lot more than $300m (£216m).