Italian court rules in favour of Blackstone in RCS property dispute

Rizzoli Corriere Della Sera Mediagroup SpA

08/06/2022 11:42

MILAN, June 8 (Reuters) - A Milan court has ruled in favour
of investment fund Blackstone  BX.N  and rejected an appeal by
Italy's RCS Mediagroup against an arbitral tribunal decision on
the disputed sale of the headquarters of the publishing company.
    RCS Mediagroup, which publishes the influential daily
Corriere della Sera, launched arbitration proceedings in 2018 to
try to nullify the 2013 sale of its historic headquarters in
Milan to Blackstone, saying the price had been too low at a time
when RCS faced financial difficulties.
    But after an arbitral tribunal ruled in favour of Blackstone
last year, a Milan court on Wednesday rejected RCS's appeal on
the ruling, a court document seen by Reuters showed.
    RCS had no immediate comment. Blackstone declined to
comment.
    Blackstone, which paid 120 million euros ($128 million)for
the offices, had in turn accused RCS of falsely claiming it
still owns the building and of improperly blocking its sale to
Germany's Allianz  ALVG.DE  but the case in the U.S was
suspended until the arbitration outcome.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2P66J3. 
    The U.S fund is seeking $600 million in damages.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2OC5QQ
 


($1 = 0.9338 euros)

 (Reporting by Alfredo Faieta and Elvira Pollina, writing by
Elvira Pollina
Editing by Keith Weir)
 ((elvira.pollina@thomsonreuters.com;))