Italian broadcaster Mediaset has again rejected a new set of complaints from Vivendi against its plans to create a pan-European media group under a Netherlands-based holding company called Media for Europe (MFE). Vivendi, which is Mediaset’s second largest shareholder with a 29 percent stake, is strongly opposed to the corporate overhaul on the grounds that it’s designed to favour the broadcaster’s biggest shareholder, the Fininvest investment vehicle of the Berlusconi family, which holds a 44 percent stake.
In a letter, Vivendi said the proposed amendments to MFE’s bylaws still failed to address its concerns over the merged entity’s governance structure, pointing above all to a loyalty share scheme that could prevent other European players from joining the project. Mediaset replied that the French company’s complaints are “groundless” and “biased” and that it would proceed to hold a shareholders’ meeting on 10 January to vote on the proposed changes.
Earlier this month, a Milan judge said a decision on Vivendi’s request to block Mediaset’s MFE project will not be issued until after the shareholders’ meeting, on 21 January 2020.
