Vivendi Discloses 3% Stake in Italy's Mediaset SpA -- 2nd Update
13 December 2016 - 10:27AM
Dow Jones News
By Manuela Mesco and Nick Kostov
MILAN -- French firm Vivendi said Monday it owns a 3% stake in
Italy's Mediaset SpA, and intends to continue to buy shares to
build a stake of up to 20% in the Italian broadcaster.
The decision comes as the two firms are about to fight in court
over the validity of a deal signed earlier this year. In April,
they reached a partnership agreement under which they would
reciprocally swap a 3.5% stake and Vivendi would buy Mediaset's pay
TV business.
But afterward Vivendi asked to change some of the terms of the
deal, leading to a lawsuit launched by Mediaset against the French
media company.
"Becoming a Mediaset shareholder is...in line with the group's
intention to develop its activities in Southern Europe and its
strategic ambitions as a major international, European-based, media
and content group," Vivendi said.
Vivendi said it believes that that the strategic interest of the
industrial partnership announced in April "supersede the stakes of
the lawsuit." As such, it plans to continue to acquiring Mediaset
shares "depending on market conditions, until possibly becoming
Mediaset's second largest industrial shareholder," with a stake of
up to 20%.
According to Mediaset, Vivendi is shifting from an industrial
agreement to a takeover attempt. It added that Vivendi is
benefiting from the 30% plunge in Mediaset's share value in recent
months caused by the decision not to go ahead with the Vivendi
deal. It also said it hadn't been notified of Vivendi's
intentions.
A person close to the company called Monday's move "a hostile
action."
Mediaset's main shareholder, the holding company Fininvest, said
that it will take all the necessary measures to keep its
shareholding role in the Italian broadcaster and that it will use
all possible means to block the operation.
Fininvest accused Vivendi of pressuring Mediaset's share price
to launch a "hostile takeover bid" at a discount price.
Run by Chairman Vincent Bolloré, Vivendi is seeking to piece
together a media empire focused on southern Europe with interests
in TV, music and videogames. But Mr. Bolloré has ruffled feathers
in recent months, falling out with the founders and managers at
videogame publisher Ubisoft SA and more recently with Mediaset.
Mr. Bolloré, who as chairman of Vivendi calls the shots with a
stake of over 20%, has made a fortune over the past three decades
seizing control of businesses, sometimes in quick raid, sometimes
in a long, slow immersion.
Vivendi said in October it had given up on finding an amicable
solution with Mediaset after the two sides traded barbs over who
was to blame for the collapse of the deal.
Write to Manuela Mesco at manuela.mesco@wsj.com and Nick Kostov
at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2016 18:12 ET (23:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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