By Simon Zekaria - 27th May 2004
The European Commission “expects” French book giant Lagardère to submit any divestment plans to Brussels, following a January green light to purchase rival Vivendi Universal’s publishing arm, Editis.
“We would expect Lagardère to submit the buyer of the assets to the European Commission for approval,” said a spokeswoman for EU competition commissioner Mario Monti.
Lagardère is set by the end of May to formalise an agreement with Wendel Investissement on the sale of Editis assets – in order to fulfill EU competition conditions for the deal to go through.
The approval for the transaction in January was conditional on Lagardère divesting 60 per cent of Editis’ sale operations to rival publishing companies – retaining only 40 per cent.
The competition inquiry into market dominance focused on Lagardère's subsidiary arm Hachette as an extensive player in the educational book market through the purchase and sale of publishing rights, and the distribution and sale of books by publishers to retailers.
Lagardère, as the world's biggest magazine publisher, garners 60 per cent of the book distribution market in France post-acquisition – with a corresponding increase in revenue that could outstrip rivals tenfold.
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