Vincent Bolloré takes 5% of Vivendi’s shares

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 17-10-2012

French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, whose media arm Bolloré Media has sold DTT channels Direct 8 and Direct Star, to pay-TV Canal+, has taken a stake in the Vivendi media and telecom group capital.

He is thus set to gain a seat on the board of Vivendi by passing the symbolic threshold of 5.01 % of the stakes.

“The supervisory board welcomes the presence in Vivendi's capital of an industrial, family-owned French group, which has now become one of the largest Vivendi shareholders," said chairman Jean-René Fourtou in a statement. Before Bolloré’s increase, US investment fund Black Rock was Vivendi’s main shareholder (4,62 %), followed by Société générale (4,55%) and Bolloré (4,41%).