Lagardère & Vivendi Agree to Canal+ Deal

PARIS: The French media group Lagardère has reached a deal with Vivendi to sell its 20-percent stake in Canal+ France for 1.02 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

The agreement, which will be submitted to the appropriate works councils, puts an end to all disputes between the two groups. The two have been embroiled in a battle over how to buy out Lagardère's minority stake for years.

In 2011, Lagardère had exercised an option to sell its minority stake in an initial public offering after failing to agree to a selling price with Vivendi. Lagardère later canceled the IPO. In February, Lagardère filed a lawsuit against Vivendi saying that the company had been trying to deliberately diminish the value of Canal+ France to force Lagardère to drop its plan to sell its stake.