The US investigation is understood to focus on whether the company was producing accurate financial reports, especially in 2001 when it was feeling the effects of the expansion plans put in place by Jean-Marie Messier, the former Vivendi chairman and chief executive who quit in July. Messier was replaced by fellow Frenchman Jean-Rene Fourtou.
In a statement yesterday, Vivendi said that it "intends to cooperate fully with the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York that has opened a preliminary criminal investigation involving Vivendi Universal. The US Securities and Exchange Commission's Miami, Florida office, which has been conducting an informal inquiry, will be coordinating its activities with the US Attorney's investigation. Vivendi Universal intends to cooperate fully with those preliminary investigations."
The US investigation comes as the debt-laden Vivendi is trying to raise cash by selling off assets, such as Italian pay-TV operation Telepiu, which was snapped up by News Corporation and Telecom Italia at the start of October for €920m (£578m); and the book publisher Houghton Mifflin, which is currently up for sale. It is also locked in a €6.3bn battle with Vodafone for control of Cegetel, France's second-largest phone company.
Shares in Vivendi Universal fell 1.9% yesterday in Paris to €12.10.
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