By Ruth Bender
PARIS--Vivendi SA (VIV.FR) Chairman Vincent Bollore Friday
called on investors to be patient as the French media group works
towards building a new global content company ahead of a crucial
vote that will decide how much leeway the group's largest
shareholder will have over steering the company's future
development.
"To build Vivendi, we need time and money," Mr. Bollore told
shareholders at the first annual meeting he is presiding over as
the company's chairman and largest shareholder.
The meeting comes after a tumultuous month for Vivendi as it
faced criticism from a U.S. hedge fund that pushed the company to
agree to raise the amount of money that will be returned to
shareholders.
The activist push came as investors continue to wonder where the
owner of Universal Music and French pay TV Canal Plus is headed in
the future and how it will use the large cash pile it has
accumulated from selling off many assets over the past years.
Mr. Bollore also justified Vivendi's decision to back a French
law that will give shareholders that have held shares in companies
for two years double voting rights. A group of minority
shareholders has proposed a resolution to waiver the law, wanting
to stick with a one-share, one-vote principle. Vivendi is asking
holders to reject this resolution.
If shareholders reject the resolution, it will allow Mr. Bollore
to gain further control over the company in which he has nearly
tripled his stake in recent weeks. The French billionaire holds
14.5% in the group via his family-controlled conglomerate Groupe
Bollore. He took over as chairman last June.
"Two years is extremely reasonable," Mr. Bollore said in
reference to the French law. "It's time that allows a group to grow
and progress."
Write to Ruth Bender at ruth.bender@wsj.com
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