Vincent Bolloré is being investigated by the Milan prosecutor's office for competition in insider trading. The news refers to the investigation opened a month ago after the complaint presented by Mediaset. In recent months, the Biscione has been the subject of an attempted takeover by Vivendi, the communications giant chaired by the French financier.
Last July the two companies reached an agreement: Vivendi would buy Mediaset Premium, the Alfa Romeo pay-TV, paying for it with a package of its shares equal to 2,962% of the share capital. The Mediaset parent company would also have obtained another bundle of shares (0,538% of Vivendi) and in turn transferred 3,5% of its capital to the French.
After the summer, Vivendi surprisingly refused to comply with this agreement, suggesting that Mediaset Premium's financial situation was much more serious than initially implied. At that point, Mediaset's share on the Stock Exchange collapsed and Vivendi raked in the shares of the Biscione with both hands, reaching up to 28,8% of the capital.
The Berlusconi family claims that it was a premeditated plan to start a hostile takeover of Mediaset at a discounted price. After Mediaset's complaint, the Milanese prosecutors heard on two occasions, but as a simple witness, the Tunisian financier Tarak Ben Ammar, considered very close to both Bolloré and Berlusconi.
In the late morning, the version of the French group also arrives which, through a note, declares: "The registration of Vivendi's managers in the register of suspects of the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office is the consequence of an unfounded and improper claim filed by the Berlusconi against Vivendi after the rise in the capital of Mediaset”. "This inscription - continues the note - currently does not indicate in any way any accusation against anyone". After Vincent Bollorè, the managing director of Vivendi, Arnaud De Puyfontaine, also ended up in the register of suspects of the Milan prosecutor's office for the story of the takeover of Mediaset,
