Billionaire businessman Vincent Bollore's holding company Bollore spent a further 568 million euros to increase its share in French media group Vivendi. The move was adopted by the billionaire as he gears up for a fight with activist shareholders.

US hedge fund P. Schoenfeld Asset Management (PSAM) wants shareholders to back two resolutions at an annual meeting scheduled to be held on April 17.

Under it, Vivendi would require to boost returns to investors to 9 billion euros ($9.7 billion) after selling four of its six businesses.

PSAM founder Peter Schoenfeld told Les Echos newspaper in an interview published on Thursday that he was quite positive that he would win the support of a majority of shareholders, but it was still too early to comment.

“Our action can lead to a rise in Vivendi's share price, which will put it in a better position to make acquisitions and build a large group ... our aim is not to break up Vivendi”, he said.

He further said that the only thing they are asking is better remuneration for shareholders and a clarification of the strategy.

PSAM, which owns 0.8% share in Vivendi, accused the company of giving such a high level of freedom to Vincent Bollore, who is chairman and largest shareholder of the media group, to boost his stake at undervalued prices.

Bollore group said on Thursday that it had bought a further 24.6 million Vivendi shares, raising its stake to 12.01% from 10.2%. He presently holds 162 million shares worth 3.8 billion euros.

He also said that he paid 3.08 euros a share, compared with Wednesday's closing price of 23.50 euros. The stock was trading down 0.8% at 23.31 euros by 0757 GMT on Thursday.