Reports: Two raiders seek to split Vivendi Universal

PARIS --Two corporate raiders are building stakes in Vivendi Universal SA to try to break up the conglomerate and force management to choose between its telecommunications and media assets, according to media reports.

The La Tribune French daily financial newspaper reported on its Web site that Iranian businessman Amir Jahanchahi and Sebastian Holdings, the investment vehicle of Norway's Alexander Vik, plan to build their stake beyond the 2.5 percent they have recently bought.

Another French business daily, Les Echos, reported that Sebastian Holdings purchased the stake at Jahanchahi's initiative and that the move was not hostile.

It was not immediately clear if Sebastian Holdings will seek the support of other shareholders to pressure the company, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.

Sebastian Holdings was a key player in allowing French raider Vincent Bollore to secure board representation on advertising firm Havas SA last year. Jahanchahi represented Sebastian Holdings at the Havas shareholders' meeting where Bollore won representation.

Sebastian Holdings wants management to dismantle the vision of former Vivendi chief executive Jean-Marie Messier to create a media conglomerate with television, movie and music content as well as distribution like telephone properties, the Journal said.

It may push for the sale of Vivendi's stakes in French phone company SFR Cegetel Group and Morocco's Maroc Telecom, the Journal said. Another option is the sale of its 18.5 percent stake in NBC Universal, which owns the NBC television network, Universal movie studio, among other entertainment property. General Electric Co. owns the rest.

In the past few months, shareholders, led by Knight Vinke Asset Management LLC, successfully forced large Dutch media company, VNU NV, to abandon a takeover of IMS Health Inc.

Sebastian Holdings' 2.5 percent stake makes it the Paris-based company's largest individual shareholder, the Journal said. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Vivendi's largest declared shareholder as of Dec. 31 was Southeastern Asset Management, with 1.8 percent of the stock.

Sebastian Holdings, which has offices in Greenwich, Conn., is controlled by Vik, a Norwegian entrepreneur based in Monaco, according to an SEC filing.

Vivendi spokesman Antoine Lefort declined to comment Tuesday.

A Sebastian Holdings spokesman declined to comment to the Journal. Sebastian Holdings' office in Monaco did not immediately return a message left late Tuesday by The Associated Press. There was no telephone listing for an office in Greenwich.