LESCURE SAYS NO RIFT
BETWEEN VIVENDI, SEAGRAM
Canal Plus Chairman Says
Pierre Lescure, chairman of Canal Plus, on Sunday (7/16a) denied talk of a rift between his corporate parent, Vivendi and its $34 billion merger partner, Seagram.
In an interview published Sunday in French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Lescure also brushed aside a sharp decline in Vivendi's share price and pledged extra guarantees to ease the French government's worries over the Vivendi-Seagram tie-up.
Lescure dismissed speculation of a Vivendi-Seagram rift as "totally false."
"Already 30% of Seagram shareholders have opted to go along with us. There's no doubt at all the others will follow," Lescure said. "As far as any differences are concerned, there are none because everything had already been settled when the merger was announced. Strategically and legally, everything is set in stone."
Authorities will be advised by letter on Monday of the long-term commitment of Canal Plus to filmmaking and television production, Lescure said.
