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Vivendi sells publishing assets
PARIS, France -- Financially troubled Vivendi Universal said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its non-U.S. publishing assets to French media rival Lagardere, after failing to attract strong bids for the whole unit. The deal is worth 1.25 billion euros ($1.2 billion) including debt and follows an exhaustive search for a buyer in a bid to pay down its 19 billion euro debt. Lagardere -- best known for publishing Paris Match magazine -- also owns Elle and Car & Driver magazines. It would become France's biggest publisher if the sale receives regulatory approval. Vivendi decided to sell its European and Latin American publishing assets separately after three bids for its global operations fell below a target price of between 3.5 billion and 4 billion euros. Its main U.S. operation is publisher Houghton Mifflin, based in Boston. Vivendi, the world's second largest media group after CNN parent AOL Time Warner, said in September it wanted to auction assets valued at 12 billion euros by the end of 2003. "[This agreement] contributes to lowering Vivendi Universal's debt ... meets the cultural and heritage concerns that relate to publishing... [and] offers growth prospects for [the] French and European publishing businesses,'' Vivendi Chief Executive Jean Rene Fourtou said in a statement. Vivendi (PEX) shares were down 7 percent to 12.46 euros in midday trading in Paris, while Lagardere (PMMB) rose 5.5 percent to 42.37 euros. Earlier this month, Vivendi agreed to sell its loss-making Italian pay television unit Telepiu to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in a long-awaited deal worth about 900 million euros. News Corporation is paying 470 million euros in cash for Telepiu and assuming 423 million euros of its debt. Under the deal, Murdoch's group will own an 80 percent stake in Telepiu, while Telecom Italia -- its partner in Telepiu rival Stream -- will control the remainder. Telepiu and Stream are expected to be merged to create Italy's dominant pay-TV operator. Vivendi and News Corporation had been in talks concerning Telepiu for months, but progress was delayed due to disagreements over the value of the unit and by threats of law suits between them. These stemmed from a failed deal to merge their Italian pay-TV operations.
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