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Italian prosecutors ask judge to drop Mediaset case against Vivendi's Bollore - sources

Published 11/16/2021, 03:41 PM
Updated 11/16/2021, 03:45 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: French media giant Vivendi's logo is pictured at the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate headquarters in Paris, France, August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: French media giant Vivendi's logo is pictured at the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate headquarters in Paris, France, August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors have asked a judge to drop a case against Vivendi (OTC:VIVHY)'s owner and CEO for alleged market manipulation and obstruction of regulators in the French group's stakebuilding in Italy's Mediaset (OTC:MDIUY), one judicial and one legal source said.

Prosecutors had investigated allegations that Vivendi's billionaire owner Vincent Bollore and CEO Arnaud De Puyfontaine used the prospect - and then collapse - of a deal to buy Mediaset's pay TV arm to drive down the Italian firm's shares and buy them on the cheap in 2016.

Vivendi denied any wrongdoing in a statement after prosecutors wrapped up their probe in December 2020.

Requests from prosecutors to drop cases in Italy tend to be because they do not think they can support a prosecution in court.

Vivendi's decision to back out of the pay TV deal prompted broadcaster Mediaset and its controlling shareholder Fininvest to seek multibillion-euro damages, triggering a five-year legal war that ended earlier this year with a settlement.

Fininvest is the holding company of the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: French media giant Vivendi's logo is pictured at the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate headquarters in Paris, France, August 12, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

The judicial source said the request to dismiss the case was filed last week. It will now be up to a judge to decide whether to grant it.

Vivendi, Mediaset and Fininvest declined to comment.

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