Mediaset Espana to Appeal Ruling Halting Merger With Italy's Mediaset
October 11 2019 - 12:19PM
Dow Jones News
By Giulia Petroni
Mediaset Espana Comunicacion SA (TL5.MC) said Friday it will
immediately appeal a Spanish court's ruling that temporarily
suspends the company's plan to merge with Italy's Mediaset SpA
(MS.MI), adding it disagrees with the decision.
A court in Madrid decided Thursday that the merger of the
Italian and Spanish broadcasters couldn't go ahead, following a
legal challenge by French media company Vivendi SA (VIV.FR)--which
holds a stake in both companies.
Vivendi pledged legal action against the plan to create a Dutch
holding company called Media for Europe NV (MFE), arguing the
strategy "disregards basic shareholders' rights" and would only
benefit Mediaset's majority shareholder Fininvest.
Vivendi said it is satisfied with the Spanish court's decision
and that legal actions in Italy and the Netherlands will continue,
a spokesman said Friday.
"The judge has acknowledged that the planned merger was imposed
in an abusive manner by Mediaset and its controlling shareholder
Fininvest to the detriment of all minority shareholders and that it
does not respond to a reasonable business need for Mediaset
Espana," he said.
Mediaset said it is confident its European project will succeed,
in spite of Vivendi's opposition.
In a separate statement, Mediaset said asset trust Simon
Fiduciaria SpA--which holds parts of Vivendi's shares in
Mediaset--also took action to halt the merger plan.
Vivendi has been embroiled in a dispute with Mediaset, which is
controlled by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's
family, since a pay-TV deal between the two companies fell apart in
2016.
Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 11, 2019 12:04 ET (16:04 GMT)
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