Vivendi is taking a minority stake (12 per cent, via Canal+) in troubled Viaplay and the move, says investment bank Jefferies, is true to form.

Vivendi has a history of cannily deploying capital to promote its myriad interests. In this instance, for a c.€30 million investment (out of a Vivendi group liquidity pile of €2.8 billion), Vivendi now has influence over anything that happens next, as the Viaplay CEO breaks up the group and tries to extract value, says the bank’s note to clients.

Jefferies says it does not immediately see the investment as a prelude to a take-out of Viaplay.

“The synergy case of such is certainly limited given the small overlap: Viaplay and C+ compete in Poland (alongside a sub-licensing deal for EPL); Viaplay Select is on the C+ platform in Austria; Viaplay competes with C+’s M7 business in the Netherlands. The logic for Vivendi to acquire Viaplay would have to be geographic expansion into the Nordics. Perhaps. In any event, investors should view Vivendi’s approach with caution: it holds all the negotiating leverage here,” adds Jefferies.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Virgin Galactic in stock split
2. Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
3. AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
4. Optimism under threat at SES
5. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
6. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
7. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
8. IRIS2 already in trouble?
9. Intelsat contemplates next steps

Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite, M&A

Tags: Canal+, viaplay, Vivendi