French utilities and media giant Vivendi is considering a complete or partial withdrawal from running the Babelsberg Film Studios which it successfully bid for in 1992 under its previous name CGE.

Studio spokesman Juergen Bergfried told local newspaper Berliner Morgenpost that the French owners are: "looking for new partners for the operative business". He explained the planned withdrawal as part of Vivendi's strategy to realign around core activities and said it would be carried out over the next three to five years.

Vivendi's predecessor bought the former state-run DEFA studios for about DM130m ($67.4m) from the Treuhand privatisation body in 1992 and has invested more than DM700m ($362.7m) in the studio lot as part of a ten-year employment and investment agreement. The production centre now houses 120 media or media-related companies and 3,000 employees.