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Reuters
Reuters
Business

Vivendi plan to limit Mediaset voting rights not enough if influence remains: source

The Vivendi logo is pictured at the main entrance of the entertainment-to-telecoms conglomerate headquarters in Paris, March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

MILAN (Reuters) - Vivendi's proposal to limit its voting rights at Mediaset to 9.9 percent was not sufficient in itself to allay regulator concerns if the French media group retained a significant influence at the Italian broadcaster, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.

The source added that Vivendi's plan to place a stake of 20 percent in Mediaset in a blind trust was seen as a good solution as long as those shares can never be used by the French group to vote at shareholder meetings.

AGCOM said in April that Vivendi's stake-building at Mediaset and Italian phone group Telecom Italia was in breach of rules designed to prevent a concentration of power in the country's telecoms and media sector and asked the French group to reduce one of the holdings.

Vivendi is the biggest single shareholder in Telecom Italia, with 24 percent, and also owns 29 percent of Mediaset.

(Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, writing by Agnieszka Flak, editing by Giselda Vagnoni)

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