Boost for the City after Canal+ receives green light to list in London: French film studio’s shares to begin trading before Christmas

The French production company behind the Paddington films will list in London this month after investors approved the spin-off of its parent company.

In a boost for the city, Vivendi shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of spinning off Canal+ and other parts of the business at a meeting in Paris.

Shares of the newly independent Canal+ will begin trading in London on Monday of next week.

The listing of such a high-profile company will be seen as a major victory for the stock market following the exodus of companies from the London market.

The move is part of the spin-off of the entertainment conglomerate Vivendi, controlled by the billionaire Bollore family, to increase the value of its business units.

About 95 percent of shareholders voted in favor of the split at a meeting yesterday afternoon in the French capital, despite open opposition from some minority investors.

Analysts said the resounding approval indicated that “London is open for business and an attractive market.”

However, activist investor CIAM, which owns a 0.025 percent stake in Vivendi, said it would press ahead with legal action to stop the demerger.

Media company Havas and book publisher Louis Hachette Group are also being spun off into separate companies as part of the major restructuring.

Havas’ advertising business will be listed in Amsterdam and Hachette will be listed in Paris.

Shares of the new companies are expected to begin trading on December 16.

Following the vote, Vivendi will essentially become a publicly traded investment holding company, notably managing a 10 percent stake in Universal Music Group after spinning it off three years ago.

Canal+ is estimated to be worth £5bn, Havas £2.1bn and Hachette £1.8bn, according to investment bank JP Morgan.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at brokerage AJ Bell, said: “Vivendi getting the green light to spin off Canal+ signals to the rest of the world that London is open for business and an attractive market.”

“Vivendi would not have chosen the listing venue unless it thought there would be a queue of investors waiting to participate.”

Susannah Streeter, of investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, added: “The UK looks more attractive than its European peers, especially given the political uncertainty that has erupted in France.”

Before the vote, a dispute had brewed between CIAM and the Bollore family. The minority investor argued that the spin-off would only benefit Vivendi’s main shareholder, led by billionaire French financier Vincent Bollore.

He warned that the split would deprive minority shareholders of the protection of French stock market laws.

But CIAM’s attempt to delay yesterday’s meeting failed last week when a French court rejected a court order it submitted.