By Leo Marchandon, Gianluca Lo Nostro and Florence Loeve PARIS (Reuters) -France's top civil court on Friday overturned a ruling against the Bollorés and ordered a retrial in a dispute over Vivendi
France's Top Court Overturns Vivendi Buyout Ruling
By Leo Marchandon, Gianluca Lo Nostro and Florence Loeve
PARIS (Reuters) -France's top civil court on Friday overturned a ruling that the billionaire Bollore family exercised de facto control over Vivendi, a position that would oblige them to launch a potentially costly buyout of minority shareholders.
The Paris Court of Appeal ruled in April that the family's influence went beyond its voting stake based on factors including board representation and operational control.
The Cour de Cassation on Friday overturned that determination and ordered a retrial, prolonging uncertainty over whether a potentially multibillion-euro buyout will go ahead.
"Despite this (decision), the judicial authority is not closing the door to minority shareholders," Julien Visconti, the lawyer for activist investor CIAM, which initiated the case, told Reuters by email.
While overturning the original reasoning, the court did not completely limit the assessment of corporate control to a mathematical addition of voting rights, Visconti said.
Corporate France is closely watching whether courts will uphold a strict interpretation based exclusively on voting rights, or adopt a broader standard that factors in effective influence.
TOP COURT REJECTS BROADER 'CONTROL' DEFINITION
The case centred on whether the family exercised control of the media group after its 2024 breakup despite holding only a 29.9% stake through Bollore SE, a level just below France's 30% mandatory takeover threshold.
The appeals court determined in April that it did, and that Vivendi's treasury shares should be added to the Bollore tally.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Vivendi's lawyer Alain Benabent argued that the appeals court had exceeded its powers, while Bollore's lawyer argued that it had wrongly broadened the interpretation of control beyond majority voting rights.
In its decision, the Cour de Cassation found that Vincent Bollore did not control Vivendi and rejected the appeals court's reasoning that control could be inferred from factors like his reputation or personal authority at Vivendi shareholder meetings.
In a retrial, the timeline of which is yet to be determined, parties will be able to present new arguments to a different appeals court, though they cannot re-litigate issues already decided by the Cour de Cassation.
Vincent Bollore is the CEO of Compagnie de l'Odet, which owns around 71% of Bollore SE, while his four children hold key executive and board roles across the group's other companies.
($1 = 0.8637 euros)
(RaphReporting by Leo Marchandon and Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk, Florence Loeve in Paris, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Jan Harvey)
