Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SA’s board held off on a decision on whether to sell its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, a person familiar with the talks said, deferring the first step in General Electric Co.’s plan to exit the media unit.

Vivendi’s directors, who met yesterday, are focused mostly on the company’s possible purchase of Brazil’s GVT (Holding) SA, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. A $3 billion bid by the Paris-based owner of the world’s largest music company for phone operator GVT was last week topped by Telefonica SA’s $3.7 billion offer.

“Vivendi’s just holding their cards close to the vest,” said Lawrence Haverty, a portfolio manager at Rye, New York-based Gamco Investors Inc., which owns GE, Vivendi and Comcast shares. “We still think they’ll want to sell the stake.”

GE, NBC’s 80 percent owner, is negotiating with Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator, to create a new company combining U.S. cable channels MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and USA with Comcast’s E! Entertainment, Versus and Golf Channel, people with knowledge of the discussions said this month. Comcast would own more than 50 percent of the new company and GE would be able to unwind its stake over seven years, they said. Any deal would hinge on Vivendi’s decision to sell.

GVT Counter-Bid

For Vivendi, “the next step will be to say whether they’re going to go for GVT or not, and that’s going to be connected to NBCU,” said Alexander Wisch, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research in London, alluding to the French company’s need to raise funds for any GVT counter-bid.

Vivendi’s board favors an eventual sale of the NBC stake, the person said. The company may want to sell because it needs funds to buy assets, such as GVT, in emerging markets and also make good on Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy’s pledge to provide shareholders with “high-level dividends.” Levy has described NBC as “non-core.”

Vivendi has an option to sell its stake every year between mid-November and early-December until 2016. It may yet make a decision before that date, though that may prove difficult, said Conor O’Shea, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Paris.

Vivendi spokeswoman Solange Maulini declined to comment.

“Vivendi has an annual option, exercisable later this year, to sell its stake in NBCU in the public market,” said Anne Eisele, a GE spokeswoman. “Vivendi has informed us that it is evaluating whether to exercise the option. If Vivendi determines to exercise its option, GE has several options, including bringing a new partner into NBCU, proceeding with an IPO or buying Vivendi’s stake.”

Vivendi dropped 37 cents, or 1.8 percent, to 20.24 euros today in Paris trading, giving it a market value of 24.9 billion euros ($37 billion).

“If Comcast can’t engineer a solution and this deal falls through, I don’t think Vivendi has its ducks in a row to go in November of this year,” he said.

Vivendi obtained the NBC stake in 2004 with the sale of its media assets to GE. NBC operates the broadcast network, a film studio, theme parks, and cable channels.

Meanwhile, Vivendi last week was trumped by Telefonica, Spain’s largest phone company, which offered about $700 million more for GVT. Vivendi has not said whether it will counter-bid.

‘Essential Part’

Telefonica, based in Madrid, offered to buy GVT for about 48 reais a share, topping Vivendi’s 42-reais bid. Unlike Vivendi, Telefonica is already a major operator in Brazil. Its Telesp unit has a 27.6 percent market share for fixed-line services, according to data from IHS Global Insight, a market intelligence firm. GVT has 2.5 percent of the fixed-line market.

“As long as there is a bona fide, serious negotiation going on, you want to be part of that deal,” said Claudio Aspesi, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein in London. Vivendi “is doing everything exactly right,” he said. It’s keeping “everyone else guessing.”

Vivendi, which owns Maroc Telecom and French mobile- phone operator SFR, targeted GVT as part of its drive to expand in fast- growing emerging markets. At the time, CEO Levy said GVT would become “an essential part” of his group.

GVT provides telecommunications services such as broadband Internet access and Voice over IP, accounting for about 11 percent of the market in the nine states and the federal district in which it operates.

Vivendi’s ability to launch a counter-offer may depend in part on the NBC stake-sale price, Arnaud-Cyprien Nana Mvogo, an analyst at Aurel BGC in Paris, said in a note to clients last week. The NBC Universal stake is valued on Vivendi’s 2008 balance sheet at about $6.4 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Campbell in London at mcampbell39@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 15, 2009 12:31 EDT