Vivendi board may discuss NBCU at meeting

PARIS (Reuters) - Vivendi is likely to sell its 20 percent stake in media company NBC Universal and may discuss the matter at a board meeting on October 14, a source close to the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Speculation has risen that Vivendi, Europe's largest entertainment group, will sell its stake after sources told Reuters last week that General Electric, which owns 80 percent of NBCU, is in discussions to sell Comcast Corp 51 percent in NBCU. The deal would require Vivendi to agree to sell its stake.

"The agenda of the board meeting is the (Brazilian telecom group) GVT deal. They may discuss it (NBCU) but it's not the focus of the meeting," the source said.

"The most likely scenario is that Vivendi will exit NBCU, but valuation is a real issue and a decision will not come before mid-November."

In September, Vivendi announced plans to buy Brazilian telecom group GVT for $2.9 billion.

Vivendi spokesman Antoine Lefort declined to comment and so far the company has been silent on what it will do with its stake this year.

Under a 2004 pact, Vivendi has an annual window from mid-November to early December to exercise a put option on its stake in NBCU, which owns a television network, cable channels like USA and CNBC, a movie studio, theme parks and local TV stations.

Analysts said that the sale of the NBCU stake would allow Vivendi to continue to expand in emerging countries and buy out minorities in Canal Plus France, its pay-TV business. Unlike NBCU, Canal Plus is viewed as a key business for Vivendi.

Vivendi shares fell on Tuesday after Exane BNP Paribas said the sale of the NBCU stake was likely but would be at a lower price than expected. It estimated Vivendi could raise 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) with the disposal.

(Editing by Karen Foster)