French conglomerate Vivendi SA (VIV.FR) about three months ago turned down an $8.5 billion offer from SoftBank Corp. (9984.TO) for its Universal Music division, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing several people familiar with the offer.

Vivendi told SoftBank that it viewed the music asset as core to its future, the FT reported.

Vivendi and SoftBank declined comment to the FT.

Full story at: www.ft.com

Write to nymonitoring@dowjones.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires