ADAM, a group of activists which lobby on behalf of minority shareholder rights in France, says it will oppose the three-way merger of Canal Plus, Vivendi and Seagram.

The group's chairman, Colette Neuville, said the group would seek to ensure that a rule obliging Vivendi to make a full public offer of the 51% of Canal Plus it does not already own was brought into force. The group is taking its case to the French markets regulator, the Conseil des Marches Financiers (CMF), and then the Appeals Court if its efforts fail.

Vivendi plans to acquire 100% of Canal Plus but spin off its domestic broadcast interests in order to circumvent French law preventing any single shareholder from owning more than 49% of a French television station. Neuville claimed that Canal Plus shareholders thought they were protected from a takeover by this provision.