A Milan judge specialising in
business law, Vincenzo Perrozziello, will on March 21 begin
hearing two suits for damages filed by Silvio Berlusconi's
Mediaset and Fininvest groups against French media giant
Vivendi.
Perrozziello will judge both suits, judicial sources said.
On August 23 Berlusconi's family holding company Fininvest
asked for damages of 570 million euros from Vivendi over an
alleged failure to respect an April 8 deal to buy its Mediaset
media group's pay-TV unit Premium.
Among the reasons for the request was the damage done to
Mediaset shares, the holding company said. On August 19 Mediaset
filed suit against Vivendi for allegedly pulling out of the
deal.
On July 29 Vivendi said Mediaset's business plan for
Premium was "based on unrealistic assumptions".
The plan said Premium would break even in 2018.
The French group said in a statement that due diligence by
Deloitte auditors at the beginning of June deemed the business
plan to be "unachievable".
Vivendi, which had backtracked from a deal to take full
control of Mediaset Premium announced in April, also said in the
statement that it was open to discussing another agreement with
the broadcasting company.
photo: Mediaset CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi (L) with Chairman
Fedele Confalonieri
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