Mediaset fly after the ascent of Bolloré and the counter-move of Fininvest – Corriere della Sera

FEDERICO DE ROSA Before the family. It has always been so. In steps the more complex is the sphere of the affections to prevail. And even now that the empire of the Serpent is under attack, Silvio Berlusconi is perched at Villa San Martino, by giving notice to all the commitments, to reason together in the Marina and Piersilvio on the moves to do in order not to fall into the network of Vincent Bolloré. Yesterday the former premier was to be in Rome to participate in the presentation of the new book by Bruno Vespa, but has preferred to stay at Arcore, where he was in constant contact with the children to be reached in the evening by the Navy, the president of Fininvest. The Tuesday evening had been to Arcore with his brother, Piersilvio, vice-president and ceo of Mediaset, and Fedele Confalonieri, to take stock of the situation. They say that Marina is the most determined of all to press the point. Not that the brother is. On the contrary. However, she was the more irritated with Bolloré. After the breakaway in July, in a letter to the Courier accused the financier wants to “ensure, so unacceptably incorrect, a prominent position in the shareholder structure of the Mediaset” and branded him as an exponent of a “capitalism cannibalesco, which thrive thanks to the destruction of the wealth of others, builds its success on others’ ruin. It is like a metastasis that feeds the healthy part of the body.” And the attack of Vivendi began on Monday, has made increasing still more the irritation of the president of Fininvest in respect of the French group, led by a manager, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who knows: he led the group in the Emap when, in 2009, was bought from Mondadori. The navy appointed him president of Mondadori France, and then to send him away after just a year. Seen from this angle the attack to the Serpent in fact see similar protagonists. Berlusconi was with the children on Monday, for the traditional family lunch, when Paris started the attack with the announcement that they have bought 3.5% of Mediaset and want to get up to 20%. At Villa San Martino would have received a call to advise of the blitz, but it is only a voice. Certainly the announcement of Vivendi, which is open a dispute in the court for the non-purchase of Premium, it is played immediately as a declaration of war. To which Berlusconi has reacted to the tight turn by making a buy-to-Fininvest another 5% of the share capital of Mediaset, the maximum altitude which, by law, can buy in the space of 12 months, to take so to 38.3%. The manoeuvre had been put at the current the younger son, Louis. “There is the compactness of absolute of my family on a very precise — has explained Berlusconi in a note published yesterday: we have no intention of letting someone try to resize our role of entrepreneurs. For this reason, we have increased our participation and we will continue to do so within the limits allowed by the law”. With tones less bright, the “patriarch” has repeated what i communicated to Fininvest and Mediaset each continue to repeat: Bolloré is a liar, and with him we do not want to have anything to do with it. “Vivendi has had the opportunity, with the strategic agreement, signed last April, starting with Mediaset, a partnership that was fruitful for both groups, says the statement issued by Berlusconi —. Unfortunately, this agreement has been disowned by Vivendi in the manner and with the consequences legal and otherwise, that are known. This is certainly not the best card in that Vivendi may exhibit in the re-emergence as a shareholder in the industrial society”. The door then remains closed. And Bolloré could also suffice, for now. The financier breton would have forced the hand, it is said, to verify the real intentions of the “patriarch” having searched in vain for a contact: to really want the war or is there room for peace? The only way is to “entragli in the house.” And so he did. Past the gate, however, remained outside the door. And there it remains. For now.