General Electric has agreed to pay Vivendi $5.8bn for the French group’s 20 per cent stake in NBC Universal, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, paving the way for the conglomerate’s planned sale of 51 per cent of the US media group to Comcast.
The valuation is at the high end of expectations and essentially equates to one fifth of the valuation the Comcast deal puts on NBCU, once debt is stripped out. However, it is slightly below the stake’s current valuation in Vivendi’s books.
