Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are to sell about £1.7bn (€2.7bn) worth of shares in BSkyB, the UK media company, to complete a warehousing arrangement with Vivendi Universal, the French media company.

Vivendi sold Deutsche Bank 350 million shares in BSkyB in September last year, but retained exposure to price movements after the sale, and so will take the profits from the sale. In December 2001, 150 million share certificates were sold for £1bn. This sale will dispose of Vivendi's liability altogether.