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Brussels/ Paris (pte052/03.06.2003/17:00) - French media firm Lagardere http://www.lagardere.com may meet some resistance from the EU against its purchase of the publishing division of Vivendi Universal.
The European Commission (EC) has expressed concern over a possible market advantage from the takeover, as reported in the Financial Times (FT). Not only would Lagardere have an advantage in France, but also in Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain. According to FT, Lagardere could achieve a high market share in a total of 100 markets, especially in the domain of dictionaries and lexicons.
Vivendi sold its European publishing section (without US publishing house Houghton Mifflin) to Lagardere for 1.2bn euros last year as part of its effort to reduce debt.
The EC has requested that Lagardere submit a proposal outlining possible concessions by October.
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