Vivendi announced today that the Tencent-led Consortium decided on December 17, 2020, to exercise its option to acquire an additional 10% of Universal Music Group based on an enterprise value of €30 billion for 100% of UMG’s share capital. Closing and payment will take place during the first semester of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.
Following the agreement signed on December 31, 2019, the Consortium, led by Tencent (00700.HK) with the participation of Tencent Music Entertainment (NYSE: TME) and certain global financial investors, acquired 10% of the share capital of UMG on March 31, 2020, with the option to acquire an additional amount of up to 10% of UMG’s share capital on the same valuation basis until January 15, 2021.
Vivendi has enjoyed the presence of Tencent and its co-investors at UMG’s share capital since March and is very happy the Consortium has decided to exercise its option. They will enable UMG to further develop its activities in Asia.
Tencent and the Consortium members are delighted to support UMG’s growth through this additional investment. Together with Vivendi, Tencent and Tencent Music Entertainment will continue to work to broaden artist opportunities and to enrich experiences for music fans, further promoting a thriving music and entertainment industry.
This transaction is complemented by a separate agreement signed on March 31, 2020, allowing Tencent Music Entertainment to acquire a minority stake in the capital of the UMG subsidiary owning its Greater China operations.
Following the success of this significant strategic transaction, Vivendi is pursuing its plan to sell additional minority interests in UMG with the assistance of several mandated banks. A listing is planned at the latest in 2022.
The cash generated by these transactions may be used by Vivendi to reduce its financial debt and to finance share buybacks and acquisitions.
About Vivendi
Since 2014, Vivendi has been focused on building a world-class content, media and communications group with European roots. In content creation, Vivendi owns powerful, complementary assets in music (Universal Music Group), movies and series (Canal+ Group), publishing (Editis) and mobile games (Gameloft) which are the most popular forms of entertainment content in the world today. In the distribution market, Vivendi has acquired the Dailymotion platform and repositioned it to create a new digital showcase for its content. The Group has also joined forces with several telecom operators and platforms to maximize the reach of its distribution networks. In communications, through Havas. the Group possesses unique creative expertise in promoting free content and producing short formats, which are increasingly viewed on mobile devices. In addition, through Vivendi Village, the Group explores new forms of business in live entertainment, franchises and ticketing that are complementary to its core activities. Vivendi’s various businesses cohesively work together as an integrated industrial group to create greater value. www.vivendi.com