Bolloré CEO Cyril Bolloré is encouraging Universal Music Group to reject Bill Ackman’s $64 billion takeover bid, arguing that the billionaire investor’s offer undervalues the company.
According to Reuters, Bolloré, whose company is UMG’s largest shareholder, said during the company’s markets day that “the price is not there at all.”
“He is not making a bid with his own money,” said Bolloré, who resigned from the UMG board last year. “It’s our money, the company’s money.
Bolloré continued: “I encourage Universal Music management to reject it.” “To me, it’s like he’s been rejected.”
Representatives for Ackman and Pershing Square did not respond to a request for comment.
The remarks mark the first time Bolloré has commented on the matter since Ackman first issued the proposal in April, arguing that UMG’s stock price “has been weakened by a range of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and, importantly, all of them can be addressed through this deal.”
Under Ackman’s proposal, UMG would move its stock listing from Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange.
Following Ackman’s takeover bid in April, UMG issued a statement saying the company would have no further comment until its board of directors reviewed Ackman’s bid, but that “the board has full confidence in UMG’s strategy, Sir Lucian Grainge’s leadership and the company’s management team.”
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