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A view shows the Invalides and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris February 24, 2015.GONZALO FUENTES/Reuters

Vivendi SA, the French conglomerate that's refocusing on media businesses, plans to return about €5.7-billion ($6.4-billion U.S.) to investors after selling more than $30-billion of assets.

The amount will be paid through a combination of dividends and share buybacks by mid-2017, the Paris-based owner of Universal Music Group and Canal Plus said in a statement Friday. Vivendi said its board approved an agreement to sell its remaining 20-per-cent stake in cable and wireless carrier Numericable-SFR to Altice SA for €3.9-billion.

Chairman Vincent Bollore has been leading the discussions on how to spend Vivendi's cash pile as it scouts potential acquisitions. The company, based near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, has divested telecommunications assets including a stake in Maroc Telecom and its French mobile unit SFR, with the latter sold to billionaire Patrick Drahi for €17-billion. In September Vivendi agreed to divest its Brazilian broadband business GVT to Telefonica SA for about €7-billion.

Vivendi reported a fourth-quarter profit of €2-billion, compared with €556-million a year earlier. Sales rose 0.4 per cent to €3-billion, in line with analysts' estimates.

Of its remaining assets, Universal Music Group is the world's largest music company, while pay-TV provider Canal Plus mainly targets the French market.

In April last year, after Vivendi agreed to sell SFR, it said it would return as much as €5-billion to shareholders in 2014 and 2015 through dividends and share buybacks. Since then, it's sold more assets including GVT as well as stakes in Activision Blizzard Inc. and Apple Inc.'s Beats.

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