Difficult day in Piazza Affari for ithe Mediaset stock, which in mid-morning dropped 4% to 2,364 euros, weighted down by the three sentences issued by the Court of Milan. According to what was established on April 19 by the judges, Vivendi (-1,08% in Paris) will have to compensate Mediaset and Rti 1,7 million euro for failure to comply with the "preliminary and prodromal" obligations on the purchase of Mediaset Premium. The good news for Alfa Romeo ends here. Two other judgments have in fact established that the French group has not violated shareholder agreements and did not implement any unfair competition. With these decisions, the Civil Court of Milan puts an end to a five-year battle. At least in the first place, given that Mediaset intends to do appeal in relation to the amount established as compensation. The game remains open on the criminal level.
"The decision of the Court of Milan is negative considering Mediaset's claims for damages", which reach 3 billion, they commented Equita analysts, emphasizing that “the company will be in a less advantageous position in any negotiation with Vivendi, which we expect will start in the coming months”. Equita therefore reduced the estimate of the total value of the compensation expected in the lawsuit for damages with Vivendi from 392 to 115 million, awaiting Mediaset's appeal. On the other hand, they add, it is maintained “a speculative premium of 15% on the evaluation because Mediaset will in any case have to accelerate with its internationalization strategy and therefore a confrontation with Vivendi, which controls 28,8% of the company and can block extraordinary operations, will have to take place".
Going into the details of the sentence, the judges Daniela Marconi, Amina Simonetti and the president Angelo Mambriani established that Vivendi has breached the contract for the purchase of Mediaset Premium and rejected the thesis according to which Mediaset had committed a "deception" in the preliminary phase of the negotiations which in April 2016 lead to the signing of the contract for the acquisition of the Cologno pay-TV. On these bases, compensation of 1,7 million euros was established which the French group will have to pay to Mediaset.
However, the claims for compensation were rejected. Fininvest was asking for 2,5 billion for violation of shareholders' agreements linked to the sale of Mediaset Premium, agreements which obliged Vivendi not to raise more than 3,5% in Mediaset. Il Biscione was asking for another 3 billion for the attempted takeover which led Vivendi to hold shares equal to 28,8% of the capital, becoming the second largest shareholder in Cologno. According to the judges, the purchase of Mediaset shares by Vivendi for a quantity of slightly less than 30% of the capital "did not occur in violation of the provisions of the contract". The transaction cannot be deemed illegitimate also due to the sentence of the European Court of Justice of 3 September which upheld Vivendi's appeal against the Agcom provision which, on the basis of the Gasparri law, limited the exercise of rights vote of the French in the Mediaset assemblies. In short, no unfair competition by the group owned by the Bolloré family which collects an important victory also in view of the new assemblies of the Lombard group.
