Liberty Media has become the latest group to withdraw from the bidding process for Vivendi Universal’s US entertainment assets, following in the footsteps of MGM and Comcast (see Comcast Not In The Running For VUE).
After conducting its own analysis of Vivendi Universal Entertainment’s (VUE) assets, Liberty concluded that the synergies offered are not sufficient to support the expected cost of the transaction. Vivendi is hoping to raise a price of up to $14 billion for the group of businesses. This has already proven too high for MGM (see
Vivendi Entertainment Price Is Too High For MGM).
Vivendi’s board is expected today to narrow the shortlist of remaining suitors even further. This list includes General Electric-owned NBCl; a consortium led by Vivendi vice-chairman Edgar Bronfman and possible bids from oil billionaire Marvin Davis and Viacom. Vivendi is understood to favour a deal with NBC.
