Vivendi agreed this week to unload its 53 percent stake in Moroccan phone company Maroc Telecom to Emirates Telecommunications in a $5.7 billion all-cash deal, the latest in a series of asset sales by the French conglomerate as it seeks to focus more on its media businesses.
Abu Dhabi–based Emirates, also known as Etisalat, has been negotiating with Vivendi over the Maroc Telecom stake for several months and pushed back the deadline for reaching an agreement in September. This week’s deal follows the $8.2 billion sale of Vivendi’s stake in video game maker Activision Blizzard this summer and the company’s $765 million sale earlier this year of the Parlophone Label Group to Warner Music Group.
