NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Vivendi Universal's board of directors met behind closed doors Wednesday to hash out a survival plan to pare down its $15.6 billion debt, but would not reveal what specific transactions are likely to be carried out in order to do so.

The plan, developed in large part by Vivendi Chairman and CEO Jean Marie Messier, is viewed by many as crucial to Messier's future as well as the future of the French conglomerate he heads.

Following the meeting, the company said it will create a committee to oversee corporate governance. It will be co-chaired by company Vice Chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr., whose family owns 5.3 percent of Vivendi stock, and by Marc Viinot, chairman of the company's audit committee.

"Our board of directors and management are proceeding together, deliberately and decisively, to execute a plan that, in meeting our financial targets and operating objectives, will deliver increased value and solid growth to our company," Messier said in a statement late Wednesday.

"I look forward to the recommendations of our newly created governance committee, which, I believe, will have an added contribution by implementing the structures and procedures that insure an absolute and impartial focus on the Board's fiduciary duty to stakeholders," Messier added.

Messier, 45, joined Vivendi in 1994 when it was still called Compagnie Generale des Eaux. He transformed the company from primarily a utility concern into the world's second biggest media group, after AOL Time Warner, which is the parent of CNN/Money.

But Messier has come under growing criticism for not delivering a clear picture of his plans for the expanded company, which has seen its stock price lose more than 45 percent of its value this year alone.

Company watchers have speculated that his plan would likely include the partial sale of Vivendi Environnement, France's biggest water and sewage company, along with other assets.

But the company would not provide any of the specifics of the plan Wednesday, saying only that its strategy "is based on the active continuation of the debt reduction program and the internal growth of the company's businesses."

Wednesday's meeting, which took place in New York City, was called to decide whether to recall shareholders after charges of vote tampering at last month's annual general meeting in Paris.

The board decided not to convene a new shareholders meeting.

The 16-member board includes Edgar Bronfman Jr., whose family sold its controlling stake in Canada's Seagram -- which includes assets like Universal Studios and Universal Music -- to Vivendi 18 months ago.

Prior to the meeting, there had been speculation that Bronfman and others might be mounting a takeover of Vivendi because of concerns over Messier's handling of the group since the sale.