Holland extinguishes Mediaset’s dreams about Mfe and makes Vivendi rejoice
The court of Amsterdam welcomes Vivendi's appeal against the birth of Media For Europe (Mfe), the pan-European TV designed by Mediaset
Even the court of Amsterdam rejects Mediaset's Media For Europe project , accepting the appeal of the French Vivendi, which opposes the creation of the European content holding wanted by Mediaset.
Il Biscione is already at work to change its plans.
Let's go step by step.
THE PROJECT
Let's start from the beginning. Mediaset wants to give life to a pan-European TV (and for this reason in May 2019 it acquired 9.6% of the German television group ProSiebenSat.1), which passes from the merger by incorporation with the Spanish subsidiary, Mediaset Espana.
Media for Europe, this is the name of the project that should bring together all Mediaset activities of the Old Continent under the control of Fininvest, should have its registered office in the Netherlands, tax domicile in Italy and two operational offices, one in Cologno and one in Madrid.
WHAT CONTEST YOU LIVE
The Biscione idea, however, is not appreciated by Vincent Bolloré, owner of the French company Vivendi, who does not share the governance scheme of the Dutch holding. According to the original plan, Mediaset should hold a 35% stake in MFE, with just over 50% of the voting rights, compared to Vivendi's 23%.
AMSTERDAM MOUTHS THE MERGER
The cross-border merger, as imagined by Mediaset, did not even convince the court of Amsterdam. The Netherlands, in fact, accepted Vivendi's precautionary appeal, blocking Media For Europe.
A CHANGE OF COURSE
The sentence that arrived in the last few hours represents a real change of course for the Dutch court, which only a few months ago had agreed to Mediaset, rejecting the urgent appeal presented by Vivendi to block the birth of the new holding.
The Amsterdam court had ruled that "the system of special voting shares was not in violation of Dutch law and that the outcome of the European Court of Justice on the appeal of the French against part of the 'Gasparri law' was too uncertain, adding that Mfe did not violate Dutch merger rules, ” CorCom explains .
ALSO MADRID STOPS MFE
The stop to the project has also come from Madrid in recent months, where a "friendly" solution is being sought.
MEDIASET: WORKING FOR PLAN REVIEW
And the very first rejection of MFE arrived from Spain had prompted Mediaset to put the project on standby, working on a new project.
THE SATISFACTION OF VIVENDI
The decision of the Amsterdam court makes Vivendi rejoice , who says she is "very satisfied with the decision of the Amsterdam judges, which we believe is in the interest of all Mediaset shareholders, which is what we have always tried to achieve in all the courts of several countries and to the European Court ".
MEDIASET GOES DOWN ON THE STOCK BAG
Mediaset falters on the stock market, which at the time of writing (15.30) is losing more than 2%, at 1.52 euros.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/lolanda-spegne-i-sogni-di-mediaset-su-mfe-e-fa-gioire-vivendi/ on Tue, 01 Sep 2020 13:20:34 +0000.