PARIS--French billionaire Vincent Bolloré again boosted his
stake in Vivendi SA, raising it to 14.52% a day after announcing a
peace deal with a minority shareholder.
Mr. Bolloré, via his family-controlled conglomerate Groupe
Bolloré, has acquired an additional 2.51% stake in the French media
group for EUR800 million ($851 million), the company said in a
statement Thursday.
The Bolloré group said it used 34 million Vivendi shares it owns
as collateral to secure a loan that was used to purchase the
additional stake. As of May 30, 2017, the loan will have to be paid
down either in cash--in accordance with the value of Vivendi shares
at that date--or with the 34 million shares.
Mr. Bolloré, who is also the chairman of Vivendi SA, has
repeatedly boosted his stake over the past two months as Vivendi
faced heavy criticism from U.S. hedge fund P. Schoenfeld Asset
Management LP.
PSAM, besides pushing Vivendi to boost shareholder returns, had
accused Mr. Bolloré of benefiting from undervalued stock prices to
boost his holding.
But Vivendi and PSAM on Wednesday said they had reached a truce
as Vivendi agreed to pay back more money than initially planned to
shareholders while PSAM agreed to withdraw two resolutions asking
Vivendi to pay additional dividends, and to support the group's
strategy.
Mr. Bolloré in a filing with the French stock-market regulator
earlier this month, said he doesn't intend to take over Vivendi in
the six months to come.
Write to Ruth Bender at Ruth.Bender@wsj.com
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