Vivendi’s Chief Executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine tells Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Saturday:
* Vivendi has never considered taking over Mediaset.
* A merger between Mediaset and Telecom Italia “is not our goal and is not on our agenda.”
* Vivendi open to discuss all options to rebuild trust after a misunderstanding over its intentions regarding Mediaset.
* The original contract related to Mediaset Premium cannot be honoured because it is no longer thinkable to separate the group’s pay-TV arm from Mediaset, based on Mediaset Premium’s financials.
* A Deloitte analysis of Mediaset Premium produced figures that are different from those provided by Mediaset.
* Vivendi sent a letter to Mediaset on May 20 to explain the situation and ask it to find a solution that would take into account the different figures.
* Mediaset’s decision on Monday to issue a statement has made public a discussion that was supposed to remain private.
* French tycoon Vincent Bollore has backed away from a deal to buy the pay-TV business of Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset in an unexpected move that the Italian broadcaster’s biggest shareholder said could lead to a full takeover.
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Dale Hudson).
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