Vivendi Formally Denies Any Wrongdoing Regarding the Mediaset Affair
12 Décembre 2020 - 05:08PM
Dow Jones News
Regulatory News:
Following the rumours in the Italian press this morning
regarding the conclusion of the investigation by the Milan
prosecutors in the "Vivendi-Mediaset" affair (which was prompted by
a complaint by Mr. Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest),
Vivendi (Paris:VIV) is shocked that a confidential document,
intended for the protection of the individuals under investigation,
was made public as soon as it was notified to their attorneys, also
misrepresenting its contents.
The timing of this leak improperly influences the course of
ongoing judicial disputes between private parties and tarnishes the
image of the individuals concerned, to whom Vivendi will continue
to provide its full support.
The prosecutors hypothesize that, in the second half of 2016,
Vivendi communicated incorrect information to the market and did
not disclose certain information to the Italian securities
regulator.
With respect to these allegations, Vivendi reaffirms that it has
acquired its stake in Mediaset in compliance with all applicable
laws, that it has always communicated transparently to the market
and the regulators and that its current and former executives are
either extraneous to those allegations or have acted in full
compliance of the law. Therefore, their attorneys have already
expressed full willingness to provide the necessary clarifications
before the Prosecutor's office takes a decision, being confident
that the decision will be the closure of the proceedings without
charges.
Since 2016, Vivendi has continuously defended its interests,
backed with several favorable court decisions in different
jurisdictions and tried to find an acceptable settlement in its
commercial dispute with Mediaset.
On April 8, 2016, Vivendi concluded a strategic and industrial
partnership with Mediaset. The envisaged Mediaset Premium
acquisition unfortunately led to a commercial lawsuit and Vivendi's
efforts to find an amicable solution to the dispute were finally
scuppered by Mediaset's ill-fated attempt to obtain the seizure of
3.5% of Vivendi's share capital in October 2016.
As it believed at that time that the strategic interest of this
partnership was greater than the stakes of the lawsuit, Vivendi
started acquiring Mediaset shares in November 2016 and crossed the
3% threshold of the Mediaset share capital in early December, and
by the end of December 2016 acquired a position of 28.80% of the
share capital. All the acquisitions were reported in a timely and
transparent manner.
In April 2017, the Italian Communication Authority (AGCom),
further to a complaint by Mediaset, decided to apply for the first
time a provision of the Gasparri Law regarding the protection of
media pluralism, claiming that Vivendi's minority stakes in both
Telecom Italia and Mediaset contravened this law. As a result,
Vivendi has been obliged to put in trust two-thirds of its Mediaset
shares. The European Court of Justice ruled in September 2020 in
favor of Vivendi and concluded that the Gasparri Law was
incompatible with the freedom of establishment under European Union
law.
As the judgment of the Rome administrative court on the AGcom
decision is now imminent, the Italian authorities have been seeking
to circumvent the European Court of Justice judgment through the
enactment of an emergency measure that is supposed to introduce
retroactively the new restrictions on Vivendi's shareholder rights.
For this reason, after having asked unsuccessfully the Italian
authorities to avoid a new blatant infringement of EU law, Vivendi
has been left with no other choice than to lodge a complaint to the
European Commission.
In the meantime, Mediaset relied on the AGCOM decision to
prevent Vivendi from voting all its shares at several of its
Shareholders' Meetings, in particular to create MediaForEurope, a
Dutch company resulting from the merger between Mediaset Italy and
Mediaset Spain and whose by-laws contained among other things,
several anti-Vivendi provisions and an exorbitant multiple voting
system. Vivendi was thus forced to challenge the merger and its
objections were vindicated by the Spanish and Dutch courts.
Vivendi will continue to take all the necessary measures,
including criminal complaints, to protect its legitimate interests
as well as those of its current and former executives.
About Vivendi
Since 2014, Vivendi has been focused on building a world-class
content, media and communications group with European roots. In
content creation, Vivendi owns powerful, complementary assets in
music (Universal Music Group), movies and series (Canal+ Group),
publishing (Editis) and games (Gameloft) which are the most popular
forms of entertainment content in the world today. In the
distribution market, Vivendi has acquired the Dailymotion platform
and repositioned it to create a new digital showcase for its
content. The Group has also joined forces with several telecom
operators and platforms to maximize the reach of its distribution
networks. In communications, through Havas. the Group possesses
unique creative expertise in promoting free content and producing
short formats, which are increasingly viewed on mobile devices. In
addition, through Vivendi Village, the Group explores new forms of
business in live entertainment, franchises and ticketing that are
complementary to its core activities. Vivendi's various businesses
cohesively work together as an integrated industrial group to
create greater value. www.vivendi.com
View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201212005019/en/
CONTACT:
Vivendi
SOURCE: Vivendi
Copyright Business Wire 2020
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2020 10:53 ET (15:53 GMT)
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