Tencent announced that a Tencent-led consortium and Vivendi recently signed a share purchase agreement for the Consortium to acquire a 10% equity stake in Universal Music Group (UMG) from Vivendi, at an enterprise value of EUR30 billion ($33.6 billion)
The Tencent-led Consortium is joined by Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) and certain global financial investors.
Since 2014, Vivendi has been focused on building a world-class content, media and communications group with European roots. In content creation, Vivendi owns powerful, complementary assets in music (Universal Music Group), movies and series (Canal+ Group), publishing (Editis) and mobile games (Gameloft).
Until January 15, 2021, the Consortium has the option to acquire up to an additional 10% equity stake in UMG at the same enterprise value as in the Transaction. Prior to the closing of the Consortium-UMG Transaction, TME and UMG also intend to enter into a second agreement that grants TME an option to acquire a minority equity stake in UMG's Greater China business.
This transaction will be subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of the first half of 2020.
Vivendi said that it is very happy with the arrival of Tencent and its co-investors. They will enable UMG to further develop in the Asian market.
Tencent and the Consortium members are excited to support UMG's growth through this investment. Together with Vivendi, Tencent and TME will work to broaden the opportunities for artists and to enrich experiences for music fans, further promoting a thriving music and entertainment industry.
