French group Vivendi denies having plans to acquire chain Italian Mediaset – Investing.com Spain

By Stephen Jewkes

MILAN (Reuters) – Vivendi denied on Saturday that it has planned to acquire the chain Italian Mediaset (MK:) after buying a fifth part of the signature, in an initiative that bothered the Government and stoked a pulse between the two companies for a settlement of pay-tv.

Vivendi (PA:), a firm headed by billionaire frenchman Vincent Bolloré, became this week the second largest shareholder of Mediaset (MI:) after Fininvest -the holding company of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – when it reached its initial goal of controlling a share of 20 percent.

The Italian Government warned Vivendi against attempting a hostile takeover bid by Mediaset, the main private broadcaster in Italy and one of the largest employers in the country.

The authorities are concerned about the possibility of Bolloré, who controls Telecom Italia (ME:) and is a shareholder key in Mediobanca (ME:), you can end up having an even greater influence in the panorama of Italian business. The supervisory body of the communications in the country, already warned this week to Vivendi that any attempt to concentrate the control of Mediaset, and Telecom Italia could be illegal.

however, in an interview published Saturday by the daily Corriere della Sera, the chief executive of Vivendi, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, said that the initiative is not hostile, but rather form part of the plans of Bolloré create a european company with global reach. “We have a long-term interest, we want to be an industrial partner,” he said.

Likewise, he denied that Vivendi is trying to be done with Mediaset, ensuring that would have launched a TAKEOVER bid if so. “We have the means to do so,” said the newspaper, adding that the French company had spent around € 800 million (836 million) to gain 20 percent of the Italian firm.

however, he would not say whether Vivendi would launch an offer later. “I can not make comments”, he said.

Vivendi and Mediaset carry loggerheads since July, when the French group gave back to a prior agreement to buy the subsidiary of pay-tv Premium chain Italian, and exchanging a share of 3.5 percent in each firm.

(Edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)

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