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Since yesterday, Lagardère, which owns Europe 1, the JDD, Paris Match, and Hachette publishing, has become a group that anyone can buy. Indeed, the latter announced yesterday that its supervisory board had “welcomed” the project of transformation into a limited company. The next step? To submit this project to the group’s next general meeting scheduled for 30 June.
The group’s main shareholders, namely Arnaud Lagardère, Bernard Arnault (Groupe Arnault), Vincent Bolloré (Vivendi) and Joseph Oughourlian (Amber Capital), have “undertaken to vote in favour of the operation”, it says.
Lagardère added that it had concluded a transactional agreement with Amber Capital, which was fighting for changes in governance, “putting an end to the various procedures that opposed them”. In a separate press release, the British fund assures that this agreement “is part of a perspective of pacification of the relations between Lagardère and its principal shareholders”, and that it “concretises the expression of its strategic vision in its capacity as investor and reference shareholder with nearly 20% of the capital”.
Lagardère specifies that “the governance envisaged would allow for the continuity of the group’s management around Arnaud Lagardère”, currently general manager, who “would be appointed CEO for a period of six years”, while Pierre Leroy, co-manager and recently appointed head of Hachette Livre, would be appointed deputy CEO.
As a reminder, the project to transform the company into a limited company and the abandonment of the limited partnership which allowed him to lock in the control of his group for 30 years, means that Arnaud Lagardère loses the absolute control of the group inherited from his father.
Indebted by the bankruptcy of a TV channel, La Cinq, Arnaud Lagardère found himself heavily indebted and ended up giving in. In return, however, he was guaranteed a position as CEO in the future organization for 6 years.
The future CEO, who for years had been opposed to several of his shareholders regarding the governance of his group, spoke during a conference call: “I am today sincerely very, very happy with this change. It’s a change that I wanted and assumed, without any qualms or regrets.”
However, he still has a heavy personal debt, which in January 2020 amounted to 164 million euros.
“Arnaud Lagardère has managed to get angry with everyone. So much the better if he reveals himself as CEO, but he won’t be around until 2026,” a Lagardère shareholder predicted to AFP.
With the end of the limited partnership, his group now becomes more easily “redeemable”, the sale of assets remaining conditional on an agreement by a three-fifths majority of the members of the board of directors (i.e. 7 votes out of 11).
In fact, the new board of directors of SA Lagardère would be composed of eleven members, including two directors representing the employees, three directors proposed by Arnaud Lagardère, three proposed by Vivendi (holder of 29% of the capital), one for Qatar Holding (14%), one for Amber Capital (20%) and one for Financière Agache (Arnault group, 7%). Arnaud Lagardère will double his stake, which was previously 7%, via a “compensation” for the general partners (Arnaud Lagardère and Arjil commanditée-Arco). They will be allocated a total of 10 million newly issued shares.
Lire aussi > LAGARDERE CONFIRMS PLANS TO CONVERT TO A LIMITED COMPANY
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