MILAN (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, top investor in Mediaset, vowed on Wednesday to fight any move by Vivendi to reduce his family's role in the Italian broadcaster.
Berlusconi spoke shortly before the French group announced it had increased its stake in Mediaset to 20 percent, having built its holding up in the past two days from an initial 3 percent, a move the Italian group has branded as hostile.
The former Italian prime minister said his family, which holds 39.8 percent of Mediaset's voting rights through investment vehicle Fininvest, would continue to increase its stake in the Milan-based TV group.
Berlusconi added that Vivendi's backtracking in July on a pay-TV deal was certainly not "the greatest visiting card" Vivendi could show to re-propose itself as industrial partner for the group.
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Stephen Jewkes)