tWhile political leaders debate the advisability of entrusting Doliprane to an American investment fund, a CAC 40 group is about to disperse like a puzzle between London, Amsterdam and Paris at the instigation of a very French financier.
The supervisory board of Vivendi, of which the Bolloré group owns 29.9%, approved, on Monday, October 28, a split project, aimed at dividing the group into four listed companies in three countries: Havas in Amsterdam, Canal+ in London, Louis Hachette in Paris, as well as the rest of Vivendi, the video game publisher Gameloft and stakes in Telecom Italia and Universal Music.
Aim, “reveal the true potential of Vivendi’s assets”affirms to echoes Yannick Bolloré, chairman of the supervisory board of the group pending evisceration, future chairman of the supervisory board of Canal+ and CEO of Havas NV. Understand that the sum of the pieces will be worth more than the current set. For this reason, it is likely that shareholders, called to vote on December 9, will give the green light to major surgery, not without consequences for French interests.
Because a television is not a business like any other. We can ask ourselves about the convenience of allowing a television actor, the main financier of French cinema, influential in the democratic debate through his CNews channel, to be listed in the City.
“I would prefer him to stay in France”said Emmanuel Macron, during an interview with the American magazine Varietyvisibly helpless, while nothing can be done without the agreement of the tax authorities. Without a doubt, at this point Canal+, whose forty years are celebrated with great pomp, will continue to be a French company, which will pay its taxes in France, under the control of the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority, but this slight shift outside borders could later facilitate other more radical movements.
“Boar” plan
Havas, for its part, will not only see its shares listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, but its main holding company will this time become a Dutch company, almost two hundred years after the creation of the famous agency by Charles-Louis Havas. Here too, this uprooting raises the question: is it appropriate for a communications and consulting company with access to the privacy of large French companies to accept a foreign passport?
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