MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s largest private media company, Mediaset, has opposed an attempt by its hostile shareholder, French media group Vivendi, to exercise its voting rights through a trust company.
Mediaset and Vivendi have been locked in a legal battle since the French firm pulled out of a deal to buy Mediaset’s pay-TV unit in July 2016 and then made a hostile raid on the Italian company’s share register, taking a 28.8 percent stake.
Later, Vivendi transferred 19.19 percent of its total shareholding into a trust, Simon Fiduciaria, which recently signaled its intention to exercise voting rights on that stake at Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting.
Mediaset said on Wednesday that it opposed the trust’s request.
Editing by Mark Bendeich