Berlusconi’s media group Mediaset has filed suit against Vivendi for allegedly pulling out of a deal to buy its pay-TV unit Mediaset Premium.
Mediaset said it is seeking Vivendi to pay monthly damages of EUR50 million. The new court case is the next chapter in a war of words – and now court cases – between the two companies. In an interview with French daily Les Echos on July 29, Arnaud de Puyfontaine said he would have preferred the Italian company to have delivered a good business plan.
Vivendi, which had backtracked from a deal to take full control of Mediaset Premium announced in April, said the disagreement with Mediaset concerns the Mediaset Premium business plan, which determined the basis for Vivendi’s decision to execute the 8th April 2016 agreement.
According to Vivendi’s evaluation, this business plan, which forecasts a break-even point for Mediaset Premium as rapidly as 2018, is based on unrealistic assumptions, as pointed out by the Vivendi’s auditors Deloitte, in its June 2016 due diligence audit report: “the Business Plan appears unachievable and would need to be seriously downgraded in order to be realistic”.
