BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) -French media group Vivendi on Friday rejected charges by EU antitrust authorities that it possibly breached merger rules by closing the acquisition of French publisher Lagardere before receiving the green light for the deal.
“Vivendi denies the allegations put forward by the European Commission. It will thoroughly review the statement of objections and respond with detailed arguments, with the aim of being cleared of all allegations and securing the closure of the investigation,” Vivendi said in a statement.
The European Commission earlier on Friday said it had sent a statement of objections to Vivendi, which it said might have broken merger rules by implementing the acquisition of Lagardere before receiving approval for the deal.
The Commission two years ago opened an investigation into the possible infringement of EU merger rules, which could result in a hefty fine.
It said it had now informed Vivendi of its preliminary view that the company breached the notification requirement and the ‘standstill obligation’ set out in the EU Merger Regulation, as well as the conditions and obligations attached to the Commission’s June 2023 decision to clear the transaction.
“This document sets out the provisional findings of the European Commission’s investigation and merely marks the opening of the adversarial phase of the procedure. At this stage, it does not establish any infringement, nor does it entail any sanction,” Vivendi said.
The company risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
