The French conglomerate Vivendi said on Wednesday that its board was considering cleaving itself in two, months after it struck deals to sell big holdings in the video game maker Activision Blizzard and a Moroccan phone company.
In a statement, Vivendi said that it was considering a plan to essentially spin off its SFR cellphone service arm, leaving the company with its core media holdings. Such a move would give SFR more freedom to consider deals and other strategic moves amid a sweeping overhaul of the telecommunications industry.
And it would leave Vivendi as an international media giant, whose businesses include the Universal Music Group, the giant of the music industry.
“The planned demerger would create significant value to shareholders as they would have the opportunity to invest in two clearly differentiated vehicles evaluated according to the specifics of their respective sectors,†the company said in a statement.
The announcement on Wednesday came after two already significant moves by Vivendi to slim itself down amid investor concerns for a broad overhaul of its corporate structure. In late July, the company announced that it would sell the bulk of its holdings in Activision Blizzard back to the video game publisher for about $8.2 billion.
Days earlier, Vivendi entered talks to sell its 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom to the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation for about $5.5 billion.
The company’s board could decide on the break-up as soon as early next year, which would mean that shareholders could vote on its at the conglomerate’s annual meeting.
