Paris (AFP)
The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) opened in April a judicial investigation for suspicion of vote purchase, abuse of corporate assets, inaccurate accounts and false or misleading information in the case between the Lagardère group at the Amber Capital fund, Le Monde said on Friday evening.
The opening of this judicial investigation has since led to the appointment of an investigating judge, adds the newspaper, which does not cite any source but specifies that the national financial prosecutor has decided to take up a complaint lodged in February by the British activist investment fund Amber Capital.
Questioned by AFP, neither the Lagardère group nor the PNF had reacted Friday evening to comment on this information.
At the end of April, the Lagardère group had found common ground with its main shareholders - Vincent Bolloré, Bernard Arnault and Amber Capital in the lead - on the thorny question of its governance.
He had also signed a "transactional agreement" with Amber Capital putting an end to the various legal proceedings which had opposed them for years.
Threatened with blockage and faced with the economic difficulties of his group - owner of Hachette Livre and several media including radio Europe 1 and the weekly Paris Match - during the pandemic, Arnaud Lagardère, 60, had to give in to powerful shareholders , but by obtaining a CEO position for six years.
The transformation project, presented at the end of April and validated at the end of June at a general meeting, puts an end to the atypical status of the group limited by shares, which made the heir of Jean-Luc Lagardère unbreakable even though a very small minority in the capital.
Before this outcome, the struggle for influence lasted for months between Vincent Bolloré (Vivendi) allied to the Amber Capital fund (the initiator of the sling against governance), and the richest man in France and CEO of LVMH , Bernard Arnault.
© 2021 AFP