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President Macron must be gnashing his teeth. One of France’s most influential and colourful media tycoons, Vincent Bollore, has chosen the London Stock Exchange to list his global TV arm, Canal+, rather than stay in Paris.
It’s a great coup for the City – and a boost to the LSE, which has suffered an exodus of corporates recently.
But it’s a big loss for an already troubled Macron who counts Parisienne hegemony over London’s capital markets as one of his many grand ambitions.
Macron’s ambition is for Paris to overtake London as a global financial centre
It’s perhaps all the more irritating for Macron as Bollore, who is breaking up his £9bn Vivendi empire to create more value, says he chose the City because it is so ‘international’, reflecting the TV brand’s increasingly global footprint.
Two-thirds of Canal+ subscribers are outside France while its film and TV series distribution network is global, particularly after its recent takeover of Multichoice, Africa’s biggest pay TV operator.
That’s why a London listing makes sense as the City is still the epicentre – outside of New York – for most overseas investors and one of the most liquid of markets.
Macron won’t like that one bit. But then the deeply conservative Bollore, known as France’s Rupert Murdoch, has been a thorn in the side of the president for months.
His TV channels and newspapers have been supporting the various Rightwing alliances working with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. He owns CNews, France’s answer to Fox News, and recently installed a Right-wing supporting editor at his popular Sunday newspaper.
Splitting Vivendi into four companies is aimed at breaking up the ‘conglomerate discount’ it claims is holding back its real value on the Paris bourse, part of Euronext.
Vivendi’s strategy is a sound one. It’s also going to spin off and list its advertising group Havas in Amsterdam while a newly named Louis Hachette Group will list on Euronext’s Growth Market in Paris. The fourth leg, Lagardere, stays on Euronext.
As well as the Canal+ news, miner Anglo American confirmed plans for a secondary listing on the LSE for its platinum operations once the demerger goes through.
The outlook for the exchange looks brighter by the day. British computer firm, RaspberryPi, recently floated, and China’s fast fashion giant, Shein, is in discussions about a listing.
By the end of this month, the mood should be even better. This is when the biggest shake-up of IPO regulations for years by the Financial Conduct Authority goes through. Labour would be wise to continue the pace of reform. It will need healthy public markets if it is to attract investment for its spending plans. Abolishing stamp duty on share trading would be a smart move.
Royal Mail
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is making all the right noises about two of the hottest topics in town, the controversial takeover of Royal Mail and the rescue of Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard.
Reynolds says he ‘expects’ the Government will investigate the £3.6bn bid for Royal Mail by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. That sounds like a ‘yes’. As we have argued here, Kretinsky’s opportunistic takeover deserves serious scrutiny and should be referred to the authorities, if not blocked. There is so much about this heavily leveraged bid that needs to be checked out. Who are his secretive financial backers? What would happen to the UK’s postal services if Kretinsky were to slash them to save money?
As past experience of foreign takeovers has shown, promises made about keeping up services or headcount are easily broken.
Reynolds has also ruled out pleas from Harland & Wolff for a financial injection, saying the market should be left to rescue the shipyard because of the costs to taxpayers. As there are potential saviours in the wings, that’s a good call.
Blue dollars
Within hours of Joe Biden withdrawing from the Presidential race, nearly $50m was received by ActBlue, the small donor arm of the Democrat’s fundraising machine – the most raised in this election cycle.
As well as big donors like George and Alex Soros pledging blue dollars, it’s a sign that the grassroots Democrats are backing Kamala Harris. So are all her possible contenders. Harris may be a hopeless public speaker, but she’ll give Trump a thumping in debates. Follow the money.
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