The Lagardère group, bought by Vivendi, announced on Wednesday a preliminary memorandum of understanding for the sale of the Paris Match magazine to the luxury giant LVMH, headed by Bernard Arnault. “This non-binding memorandum of understanding provides for” a sale of Paris Match on “the basis of a business value” of 120 million euros, as Le Figaro revealed a few weeks ago.
The sale will be made “subject to the finalization of negotiations,” Lagardère said in a press release. “With Vivendi’s aggressive deleveraging strategy for Lagardère, such an offer for such a unique asset could not be refused,” comments a sector expert contacted by the newspaper.
The signing of this agreement was authorized on Wednesday by the board of directors of Lagardère, marking a new stage in the exclusive negotiations announced at the end of February by the two groups. “The possible signing of the final agreements could take place at the end of July 2024,” according to the press release. Subject to the approval of the competition authorities, the project could be finalized “at the end of September”, it is added.
Already owner of the daily newspapers Le Parisien and Les Échos and shareholder of Lagardère, Bernard Arnault has long coveted his weekly, for which he had already made an offer in 2021. It’s “a bit of a heartbreak” but “it’s an offer that cannot be ignored,” commented in April, during a general meeting, Arnaud Lagardère, then boss of the eponymous group bought at the end of November by the media giant Vivendi.
A few days later, he abandoned his executive mandates, including that of CEO, after being indicted as part of investigations into the financing of personal expenses by his companies.