MILAN\/PARIS: Vivendi has acquired 3 percent of Mediaset and aims to acquire up to 20 percent of the firm in a move the Italian media company has labeled as the beginnings of a hostile takeover attempt.<\/p>\n
In April of this year, Vivendi and Mediaset concluded a \u201cstrategic and industrial partnership\u201d that would encompass the joint production and distribution of content and the creation of a global OTT service. As part of the deal, Vivendi would acquire 3.5 percent of Mediaset and 100 percent of Mediaset Premium. Mediaset would secure 3.5 percent of Vivendi\u2019s share capital. That deal fell through and Mediaset and Fininvest subsequently filed suit against Vivendi.<\/p>\n
\u201cVivendi believes that the strategic interest of the industrial partnership announced on April 8, 2016, supersedes the stakes of the lawsuit,\u201d the company said in announcing its 3.01-percent investment. \u201cBecoming a Mediaset shareholder is, for Vivendi, in line with the group\u2019s intention to develop its activities in Southern Europe and its strategic ambitions as a major international, European-based, media and content group\u2026. Vivendi intends to continue to acquire Mediaset shares depending on market conditions, until possibly becoming Mediaset\u2019s second-largest industrial shareholder, which, to begin with, could represent between 10 percent and 20 percent of the Mediaset share capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mediaset issued a statement in response to the investment, noting, \u201cThis action confirms the intention of Vivendi, previously noted by Mediaset on 26 July 2016, to shift from an industrial agreement to a hostile takeover. The project is now even more disturbing given that the summer turnaround resulted in a loss in Mediaset\u2019s stock exchange value of around 30 percent, a loss which Vivendi has taken advantage of today by making a massive market investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mediaset statement concludes, \u201cAt this time Mediaset\u2019s main concern is to protect the interests of all of the company\u2019s shareholders, to pursue the ongoing dispute, updating the terms to take account of the latest developments, and to assess the real aim of the generic action taken by the French; as well as their consistency with Mediaset\u2019s strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MILAN\/PARIS: Vivendi has acquired 3 percent of Mediaset and aims to acquire up to 20 percent of the firm in a move the Italian media company has labeled as the beginnings of a hostile takeover attempt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[337,467,442],"class_list":["post-7272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories","tag-mediaset","tag-mediaset-premium","tag-vivendi"],"yoast_head":"\n