Berlusconi holding company files market abuse complaint against Vivendi

MILAN (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest, which holds 38.3 percent of Italian broadcaster Mediaset, said on Monday it had filed a market abuse complaint against France's Vivendi with national market authority Consob.

Fininvest also asked Consob to exercise all the powers it has under an Italian financial regulation, which includes among other possibilities the seizure of company assets.

The French media giant, led by tycoon Vincent Bollore, became Mediaset's second largest shareholder behind Fininvest, picking up a stake of 20 per cent.

Berlusconi has already lodged a criminal complaint of market manipulation against the French company. Italian prosecutors are investigating.

Vivendi declined to comment.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, additional reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic in Paris)