Vivendi, which conceded defeat in a bid to take over gaming company Ubisoft in 2018, sold its remaining 5.9 per cent stake for €429 million.

In a statement, it explained it is no longer a shareholder in the games company and will “refrain from purchasing Ubisoft shares for a period of five years”.

Originally Vivendi had a 27.3 per cent stake. In 2018 Ubisoft bought back 8 per cent, with some shares sold to other parties including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (3.4 per cent) and Chinese tech giant Tencent (5 per cent).

The remaining 5.9 per cent stake represented a capital gain of €220 million, while overall the sale of Vivendi’s interest earned it €2 billion and a capital gain of €1.2 billion.

Vivendi faced fierce opposition when it tried to gain seats on Ubisoft’s board from its founding Guillemot family, which had previously lost a similar fight involving Gameloft.

The France-based media company said it now plans to build on its Gameloft ownership by strengthening its position in the gaming sector.