Sale of Vivendi Unit Could Face a Delay

Vivendi Universal's plans to sell its publishing unit may be delayed by a group of French publishers protesting that if Lagardere's bid wins, France's No. 2 media company will have a near-monopoly on book publishing, the Financial Times reported without identifying a source.

French newspaper Le Monde ran an open letter addressed to Jean-Luc Lagardere, the company's chief executive, and signed by 22 domestic publishers who promise to appeal to antitrust regulators if Lagardere emerges as the winner, the Financial Times said.

Lagardere said that if its bid for some of Vivendi's publishing assets were successful, the company would resell those units posing competition problems.

Vivendi, under pressure to sell assets to lower debt, has rejected three offers of $3 billion for its publishing unit as too low, people familiar with the situation said last month.