Update 12:27pm: Updates shares, adds Pershing Square declining to comment, background on opposition.
Videndi SE ADRs (OTCPK:VIVHY) rose to session highs, up about 1%, after a report that activist Dan Loeb's Third Point accumulated a "substantial" stake in the French company.
Third Point has held the position for several months and hasn't said its position on the company's plan to sell a 10% stake in Universal Music Group to Bill Ackman's SPAC Pershing Square Tontine (NYSE:PSTH), according to Bloomberg report. The size of the stake or the Third Point's reason for taking the stake isn't known.
Pershing Square Tontine fell 0.9%. Pershing Square declined to comment to Seeking Alpha on the reported Third Point stake.
Vivendi holders are scheduled to vote on exceptional distribution of Universal Music shares associated with a planned spinoff of 60% of Universal Music on June 22.
Last week Bloomberg reported that Vivendi holder Artisan Partners is opposed to Vivendi selling the Universal Music Group stake and called a plan to distribute UMG shares to Vivendi stockholders tax inefficient.
“Selling off pieces of UMG to other investors in return for cash is a sub-optimal capital allocation decision,” Artisan portfolio manager David Samra said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We would prefer that Vivendi spin off its entire ownership of UMG to the shareholders in a tax efficient manner.”