Vivendi SA will receive 1.25 billion euros ($1.7 billion) as part of a deal to end a dispute with Deutsche Telekom AG over the ownership of a Polish telecommunications group.
Vivendi will give up rights to the shares of Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa Sp. z o.o. under an accord signed today with Deutsche Telekom and the creditors and primary shareholder of Poland's Elektrim SA, the Paris-based company said in a statement. Deutsche Telekom will be recognized as the sole owner of PTC, Poland's third-largest mobile-phone operator.
Vivendi, whose units include the world's largest video-game and music companies, aims to take full control of its domestic assets under Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy. The company is seeking to buy out the 44 percent stake held by Vodafone Group Plc in SFR, the Vivendi unit that is France's second-largest telecommunications company.
Today's resolution "is genuinely an unexpected surprise" that will give Vivendi more cash to pursue acquisitions, said Conor O'Shea, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Paris. "These legal disputes that date back to the Messier era have almost always been negative."
Read the complete Bloomberg story, "Vivendi to Get $1.7 Billion in End of Polish Dispute With Deutsche Telekom."
