Vivendi goes on the counterattack and scores the first blow in his offensive against the birth of MediasetForEurope, the pan-European holding which should come from merger – approved on 4 September – between Mediaset, Mediaset España and Mediaset Investment NV.
The Court of Madrid has suspended as a precautionary measure the resolution with which the assembly of Mediaset España gave the go-ahead for the merger with Mediaset.
The stop came pending a final ruling on the Vivendi appeal who decided to oppose the creation of the holding company by any means available. The French also started a lawsuit in Amsterdam (where the new company should have its registered office) contesting the statute of Mfe and asking the judges to prevent Mediaset Investment "from introducing the provisions of articles 13 (Provisions relating to special voting shares), 42 (Obligations of the shareholders) and/or 43 (Request for compulsory offer) in the Articles of Association envisaged by the merger plan". The hearing will be on October 16th.
After the decision of the Tribunal of Madrid, Mediaset Spain made it known that he "strongly disagreed" with the judges' decision, announcing that he "will proceed to challenge it immediately trusting that it will be revoked by the Audiencia Provincial de Madrid”. The reasons supporting the company's position, reads a note, are "very solid and support the legal, economic and entrepreneurial rationale of the social agreements that have been challenged".
Mediaset is also very harsh: “Vivendi will not stop the European expansion project of Mediaset". The company of the Biscione has in turn communicated its intention to challenge the decision "with the certainty that the strategic and operational advantages that can only be obtained through a corporate aggregation led by a unitary management and cohesive with a clear vision of the strategic priorities and of the business model capable of creating value for all shareholders”, continues the note.
Vivendi's “media and judicial” campaign “aims to seriously damage all shareholders of Mediaset and even more those of Mediaset Espana who had approved the project with a large majority in both countries” reports the Mediaset press release which defines Vivendi's attitude as “self-defeating” due to the “absolute instrumentality” of the choices “only purpose of depressing the stock market value of Mediaset shares and then trying to take advantage of it".
Then the final thrust Mediaset points out how the French group continues to exercise "significant influence" over the Italian group "in violation - as the first shareholder of Tim-Telecom with 23,9% - of Italian laws and resolutions on the matter of the AgCom”.
Of a completely different nature, of course, Vivendi's comment. The company said it was "satisfied with the decision announced today by the judge of the Madrid court. The judge acknowledged that the merger plan had been imposed abusively by Mediaset and its controlling shareholder Fininvest to the detriment of all minority shareholders; the judge also recognized that this merger does not respond to a reasonable business need of Mediaset España”. "The decision of the Spanish court suspended the merger process in Spain - continues the note - Vivendi also opposed the resolutions for the merger adopted in the Netherlands and Italy, to demonstrate that the planned merger is also illegal in those jurisdictions," he continues the spokesman of the French group.
But the soap opera doesn't end there. Also Simon Trustee, the vehicle that owns 19,2 of Mediaset held by Vivendi, announced that it had challenged the resolution on the merger of 4 September with which the Mediaset shareholders' meeting approved the merger project with Mediaset Espana into the MediaForEurope holding. In the meantime, in Piazza Affari, the Mediaset share gained 1,6% to 2,627 euros, while in Madrid Mediaset España lost 1,34% to 5,6 euros.
