MILAN: Italy's largest private media company,
Mediaset, has opposed an attempt by its hostile shareholder, French media group
Vivendi, to exercise its voting rights through a trust company.
Mediaset and Vivendi have been locked in a legal battle since the French firm pulled out of a deal to buy Mediaset's pay-TV unit in July 2016 and then made a hostile raid on the Italian company's share register, taking a 28.8 per cent stake.
Later, Vivendi transferred 19.19 percent of its total shareholding into a trust, Simon Fiduciaria, which recently signalled its intention to exercise voting rights on that stake at Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting.
Mediaset said on Wednesday that it opposed the trust's request.