Italian broadcaster Mediaset has announced that French media giant Vivendi has backtracked on its plan to acquire 100 percent of pay TV unit Mediaset Premium, submitting a new proposal to take a 20 percent stake, plus 15 percent in three years’ time through a convertible bond issue. Mediaset said it received a letter from Vivendi "absolutely out of the blue" that was in "clear contradiction" with what it described as a binding agreement to acquire Mediaset's 89 percent stake in the unit as well as the remaining 11 percent stake held by Spain's Telefonica.
The French group subsequently issued a statement clarifying that CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine sent a letter to Mediaset on 21 June informing the Italian company’s management of "significant differences in the analysis of [Mediaset Premium’s] results, for which the two companies are currently in negotiations".
Vivendi went on to confirm its desire to build a major strategic alliance with Mediaset and Mediaset Premium and that it wished to proceed with the exchange of 3.5 percent of its capital with Mediaset that was part of the April deal. Mediaset Premium posted a loss of EUR 56.6 million in the first three months of the year, negatively impacting the parent company's overall figures, with the broadcaster reporting a EUR 18.0 million loss in the first quarter compared to net income of EUR 0.6 million a year ago.
