Milan — US private equity firm Blackstone Group has launched legal action against the chair and controlling shareholder of Italian publisher RCS MediaGroup over a disputed property sale, a copy of the lawsuit shows. Filed in New York on April 22 and suing RCS chair Urbano Cairo directly, the latest action adds to the one Blackstone filed against RCS last November. The first lawsuit was put on hold on April 24 pending the outcome of arbitration in Italy. Asked about the lawsuit against him on the sidelines of RCS’s AGM on Thursday, Cairo said he could not comment as he had no direct information on the matter. The case centres on RCS’s historic headquarters in central Milan, which Blackstone bought from RCS for €120m in 2013. Cairo has said Blackstone bought the properties at too low a price when RCS faced financial difficulties, and the transaction should be declared void. The publisher, owner of influential daily Corriere della Sera, launched arbitration proceedings under Italian la...
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