Mediaset Notified of Vivendi's Preliminary Injunction Request

   By Giulia Petroni 
 

Mediaset Spa (MS.MI) said Tuesday it was notified of a preliminary injunction requested by Vivendi SA (VIV.FR) in Italy to suspend merger plans with its subsidiary Mediaset Espana Comunicacion SA (TL5.MC), pending court judgments.

The Italian broadcast company said Vivendi requested the Court of Milan to issue a preliminary suspension of the plan to create a Dutch holding company called Media for Europe NV, or MFE, until the European Court of Justice and Italy's regional administrative court issue a final judgment on the matter. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.

Last week, a court in Madrid temporarily halted the merger of the Italian and Spanish broadcasters after Vivendi pledged legal action arguing the strategy "disregards basic shareholders' rights" and would only benefit Mediaset's majority shareholder Fininvest.

The French company has withdrawn a preliminary judicial claim filed to the Court of Amsterdam, according to Mediaset.

In a separate statement last week, Mediaset said also Simon Fiduciaria Spa--which holds parts of Vivendi's shares in Mediaset--issued a writ to suspend the merger plan.

Write to Giulia Petroni at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2019 12:05 ET (16:05 GMT)

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