Vivendi's overhaul begins with Activision Vivendi's $8.2bn sale of most of its holding in Activision Blizzard left the French group's stock little changed on Friday, but shares in the California video games company jumped 13 per cent on the complex deal with an investor whose 61 per cent stake had weighed on its valuation. Vivendi's partial exit comes as it looks to make good on a pledge, made more than a year ago, to carry out a "no taboos" overhaul of its sprawling telecoms and media empire. Philippe Capron, Vivendi's chief financial officer, yesterday told investors that the proceeds of the Activision deal would help satisfy an essential part of that overhaul, by reducing the company's €13.2bn net debt as it focused on media content. "The first priority will be to deleverage, strengthen our balance sheet, defend our BBB rating," Mr Capron said. The board will then have to work on a plan to see what we do with the rest of the proceeds. Analysts welcomed the reduction in Vivendi's debt, but Patrick Kirby of Deutsche Bank cautioned that it was selling out of its best growth business "at a disappointing price." Claudio Aspesi of Bernstein Research said the Activision sale left Vivendi's strategy of focusing on media "confused and shrunk." Mr Capron said Vivendi, which owns Universal Music and Canal Plus, the French pay-TV company, had no significant large acquisitions in sight. He confirmed, though, that its stronger financial position following the sale of the company behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft would let it prepare a possible spin-off of SFR, France's second-biggest telecoms company by subscribers, which accounts for more than a third of group sales. "We are contemplating the possibility of a spin off," Mr Capron said on Friday, but the board would "take its time." Vivendi said this week that SFR had entered talks with Bouygues Telecom, another French provider, to share their networks in the country's competitive telecoms sector. Under the deal, Activision Blizzard will use about $1.2bn in cash and roughly $4.6bn of debt to buy 429m shares from Vivendi. An investor group led by ­Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick will buy a further 172m shares for about $2.34bn in cash. Mr Kotick said that after the deal, Activision would become "an independent company with a best-in-class franchise portfolio and the focus and flexibility to drive long-term shareholder value and expand our leadership position as one of the world's most important entertainment companies." Both deals were struck at a 10 per cent discount to Activision's share price on Thursday. The Activision agreement follows Vivendi's announcement this week that it had entered into exclusive talks with Etisalat of Abu Dhabi to sell its Maroc Telecom subsidiary for €4.2bn."This has been an eventful week," said Mr Capron. We are happy that we are seeing the buses coming to the station even if they are all coming together. Questioned about the Activision discount, he said: "It had to be made sure that every one of the interested parties got to see the interest in this deal." He added that Vivendi's board had voted unanimously in favour of the move and also stressed that the deal's structure meant that the group would face an insignificant tax bill - something that would not have been the case had it opted to sell shares on the open market.