5 February 2020 - 12:00

Vivendi may take further legal action against Mediaset in pan European merger

French media group Vivendi may take further legal action against Italy’s Mediaset if it continues with a plan to merge its Italian and Spanish units, Vivendi’s representative in Mediaset Espana Vincent Vallejo said on Wednesday. Controlled by the family of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Mediaset approved a merger of its Italian and Spanish units under a Dutch holding company called MediaforEurope (MFE) last September. But Vivendi, led by French billionaire Vincent Bollore and a major shareholder in Mediaset, is fighting the project in courts across Europe, saying the governance structure of the new entity would strengthen the Berlusconis’ grip on the company.