M&A

30 November, 2009

GE, Vivendi agree to value NBCU stake at $5.8 bln

NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N) and Vivendi SA (VIV.PA) have agreed in principle to value the French company's 20 percent stake in NBC Universal at $5.8 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, paving the way for Comcast's proposed deal with GE.

GE and Vivendi have spent weeks negotiating over the value of Vivendi's stake NBC Universal, holding up Comcast's plan to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal. Vivendi has to agree to sell its stake to GE to make the Comcast deal possible.

With the two sides reaching an agreement on valuation, an announcement the Comcast-GE deal could come as early as the end of this week, a second source said.

(Reporting by Jui Chakravorty and Anupreeta Das; Editing by Richard Chang) ((anupreeta.das@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-223-6224)) ((Click here to see Reuters MediaFile blog))

Source: http://www.reuters.com