Shares of Universal Music Group will begin trading on the Amsterdam Euronext market “before or by” Sept. 27, parent company Vivendi revealed on Wednesday (May 12). Vivendi’s proposal for the UMG share distribution will be put to a vote at the company’s shareholders’ meeting on June 22.
Vivendi’s largest institutional shareholders “have been calling for the split or distribution” of UMG to better reflect the fast-appreciating value of its music division, according to Wednesday’s report. Vivendi’s own valuation suggests UMG is being grossly undervalued: on Wednesday, Vivendi’s market value on Wednesday was 32.4 billion euros ($39.11 billion), slightly below Vivendi’s estimate of 33 billion euros ($39.84 billion) for UMG — even though UMG accounted for 45.8% of Vivendi’s first-quarter revenue.
