Vivendi not ruling out raising stake in Telecom Italia
Vivendi, the French media group, is not ruling out increasing its shareholding in Telecom Italia, despite being very happy with its current position, a newswire reported.
Bloomberg cited Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine as saying that Vivendi’s investment in Telecom Italia was part of a wider plan to build a company with a significant focus on southern Europe.
Puyfontaine said that the two companies had held discussions about Vivendi's possible interest in Telecom Italia’s local unit in Brazil, TIM Participacoes.
Vivendi did not have a firm position on the future of TIM, the CEO said, adding that it was an issue for the long term and was a case of never saying never.
The report referred to De Puyfontaine's comments at a conference that Vivendi would not want to buy Italian broadcaster MediaSet.
Citing sources familiar with the situation, the report added that Vivendi might be interested in potentially investing in Mediaset Premium, the Italian group's pay-TV service.
Newswire Round-up