Vivendi chief Vivent Bolloré
has been placed under investigation for alleged market
manipulation in relation to the French media giant's bid for
Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset group, media sources reported on
Friday.
Vivendi CEO Arnaud De Puyfontaine is also being probed, the
sources said.
The probe allegedly follows a complaint presented by
Berlusconi family holding company Fininvest, which owns 40% of
Mediaset.
Fininvest argues the French group created the "conditions"
for lowering the value of Mediaset shares in order to then
launch the takeover bid at a cut price by reneging on an
agreement to take full control of pay-TV business Mediaset
Premium via a 3.5% stock swap with the parent company, Mediaset
SpA.
De Puyfontaine said in an interview with Les Echos on Friday
that Vivendi wants to reach an agreement with Mediaset, but the
information presented concerning Mediaset Premium "was different
to reality".
"Now there are no longer talks, but we are reflecting on
various scenarios. We hold little under 30% of the capital and
voting rights, we don't need 100%, we can very easily remain the
minority shareholder. The important thing is to have a
constructive partnership," de Puyfontaine added.
The company released a statement saying that none of its
senior managers had been charged, and argued that investigation
"grew out of an unfounded and illegitimate complaint filed by
Berlusconi".
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