Bill Ackman PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images Bolloré CEO Cyrille Bolloré is encouraging Universal Music Group to reject Bill Ackman‘s $64 billion acquisition proposal, arguing that the billionaire investor’s offer undervalues the company.
According to Reuters, Bolloré, whose company is the largest shareholder in UMG, said during the company’s markets day that “the price is not there at all.”
“He is not making an offer with his own money,” Bolloré, who stepped down from UMG’s board of directors last year, said. “It is our money, the company’s money.
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“I encourage the management of Universal Music to reject it,” Bolloré continued. “As far as I am concerned, it is as if it has been rejected.”
Reps for Ackman and Pershing Square didn’t respond to request for comment.
The remarks are the first time Bolloré has commented on the matter since Ackman first issued the proposal back in April, arguing that UMG’s share price “has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.”
Under Ackman’s proposal, UMG would move its stock listing from Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange.
Following Ackman’s acquisition proposal in April, UMG had issued a statement saying that the company would have no further comment until its board reviewed Ackmman’s offer, but that “The Board of Directors has complete confidence in UMG’s strategy and the leadership of Sir Lucian Grainge and the Company’s management team.”
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