Canal+ has officially upped its stake in Viaplay to 29% after the rubberstamping of the against-the-ropes Scandi outfit’s recapitalization program.The plan, which was first introduced to shareholders several weeks ago, was agreed on Wednesday and will see Canal+ and investment firm PPF take around a 29% stake each.Effectively, Viaplay has been rescued from collapse but at a price for its existing owners, who have had shares diluted.Vivendi-owned Canal+ initially took a 12% stake in July, coming on the day that Viaplay Group announced it would be making at least 25% of its workforce redundant – a figure that has since risen to around 30%.The plan involves raising 4 billion Swedish crowns ($391 million) in new equity, writing down 2 billion crowns in debt and renegotiating the terms of debt totalling 14.6 billion crowns.“This means that the recapitalisation programme for Viaplay Group proposed by the Board of Directors on 1 December 2023 can progress according to plan, as the EGM resolved in accordance with the Board of Directors’ proposals to the EGM as part of the recapitalisation programme,” said a Viaplay statement, which included further details of the recapitalization.The move concludes a terrible few months for Viaplay. In June, CEO Andres Jensen stepped down with immediate effect due to the deteriorating financial situation and was replaced straight away by Jorgen Madsen Lindemann, the ex-CEO of Viaplay’s former parent company MTG.Lindemann has acted with haste, forging the brutal redundancy plan and pulling out of less crucial markets such as the UK, U.S. and Baltics, while massively reining in spending especially on splashy scripted originals. The group has also revised financial targets several times.Lindemann previously blamed a “perfect storm” for the outfit’s woes, adding that some of the issues are “external and others of our own making.”Vivendi-owner Bolloré has previous form for buying minority stakes and subsequently demanding board seats such as with French ad group Havas in the mid-noughties and Mediaset, the latter of which ended with a legal dispute.
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