SEAGRAM BOARD ACCEPTS $33.7 BILLION TAKEOVER BID
The board approved the offer just a few hours after the boards of Vivendi and Canal Plus also approved the transaction. The merged unit is slated to be unveiled today (6/20) in Paris.
The deal values Seagram at $77.35 a share in stock, said the source.
A union of the three companies would join Seagram's entertainment assets, which include Universal Pictures, with the growing telecommunications and Internet infrastructure being developed by Vivendi (hitsdailydouble.com, 6/14).
Simultaneously, Vivendi is also acquiring the 51% stake it doesn't already own in pay TV company Canal Plus.
All three boards approved the transaction Monday. Directors of Seagram met for just over an hour with Seagram CEO edgar bronfman',390,400);">edgar bronfman',390,400);">Edgar Bronfman Jr. participating by telephone from Paris.
Vivendi has scheduled a news conference in Paris today to announce the new company, to be named Vivendi Universal. The deal is monumental for Vivendi Chairman Jean-Marie Messier, who has now transformed the utilities conglomerate he took over in 1996 into a global media player. Messier will become Vivendi Universal's chairman and CEO. Bronfman will stay on as vice chairman, heading the group's music and Internet business.
Based on Vivendi's closing price Monday of 96.45 euros ($92.36) a share, Seagram shareholders would receive 0.8 of a Vivendi share for each Seagram share, valuing Seagram at 77.16 euros a share, or $73.90 a share. Seagram, in formally announcing the agreement, is likely to put a value of $77.35 a share on the deal, based on terms of the deal negotiated with Vivendi.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Vivendi was strongly attracted to Seagram, partly because such an acquisition would allow the French company to offer music through its new Internet portal, thanks to Seagram's Universal Music Group, the world's biggest record company.
Plans for possible services include allowing subscribers to customize personal "channels," allowing them to listen to their favorite music and electronic-commerce sites through which they could download and purchase recordings.
Although Vivendi will be assuming roughly $7 billion in Seagram debt, the company is expected to sell Seagram's beverage business, valued at an estimated $7 billion, either whole or brand by brand.
The fate of Seagram's theme parks has yet to be finalized.
