Vivendi May Exit NBC Universal

November 19, 2009 World Screen

BARCELONA: Vivendi CFO Philippe Capron said the company wants to exit NBC Universal (NBCU) and does not want to be part of the proposed General Electric-Comcast joint venture, but the Vivendi board has not yet reached a decision on the matter.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms Conference in Barcelona, Capron said, “We are not interested in staying onboard a new General Electric-Comcast ownership of NBCU … we will exit and it will give us more headroom," adding "We are not there yet."
General Electric, which owns 80 percent of NBCU, and Comcast have reportedly agreed on the structure of the board for the proposed joint venture with NBC Universal. According to press reports, General Electric and Comcast have also agreed to value NBCU at around $30 billion, which would mean that Vivendi could get around $6 billion for its stake. Any deal between General Electric and Comcast would depend on Vivendi selling its NBCU stake.
Vivendi has a window each year, between mid-November and mid-December, in which it has to decide whether to exercise its put option to sell the stake.
This year, Vivendi is reportedly eager to dispose of the stake and is determined to get good value for it.
Capron also said that Vivendi would be open to other acquisition opportunities, particularly in emerging markets. Just last week, Vivendi bought a majority stake in the Brazilian telecom operator GVT.

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