Knight Vinke Asset Management, the activist shareholder opposing the €7.5bn ($9.1bn) buy-out bid for VNU, said last night that many of the Dutch media company's largest shareholders plan to be absent from a meeting today in which VNU will outline its support for the bid.

Eric Knight, chairman of Knight Vinke, told French newspaper Les Echos that having spoken with all the institutional investors last week, not one was in favour of the bid.