Mediaset set to sue Vivendi

(ANSA) - Milan, July 28 - The board of directors of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's broadcasting company Mediaset SpA said Thursday it will sue French media multinational Vivendi S.A. if it fails to fulfill an agreement to take full control of pay-TV business Mediaset Premium. Mediaset said it has lost 27.8 million euros in the first half of the year due to "disbursements of 34.6 million euros, deriving solely from the signing of the contract with Vivendi".
    In April, Vivendi announced it had reached "a binding accord" to take full control of Mediaset Premium via a 3.5% stock swap with parent company Mediaset.
    However on Monday, Vivendi backtracked on the deal in light of what it described as "significant differences in the analysis of the results" of the pay-TV business, according to a company statement.
    Vivendi said it now intends to "purchase only 20% of the capital of Mediaset Premium and end up with approximately 15% of Mediaset via a convertible bond loan over three years", Mediaset said.
    "Yesterday, July 25, the CEO of Vivendi said verbally that Vivendi does not intend to honour the contract stipulated," Mediaset said Tuesday in reference to Arnaud De Puyfontaine, CEO of the group owned by Vincent Bollore'. On Tuesday, Mediaset parent company Fininvest also denounced the "exceptional gravity and absolute impropriety of Vivendi's behaviour".