Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are in the market to sell over £1bn (€1.6bn) of the €4.2bn chunk of BSkyB shares Deutsche is holding for Vivendi Universal, the French media group.

The issue will mean Vivendi reduces its exposure to the British broadcasting company by selling off about a third of the shares it sold to Deutsche in September. Vivendi retained exposure to price movements in BSkyB stock after the sale, so will take the profits from the rise in the share price, which is up 26% since the deal was announced.