By Nick Kostov

PARIS--Police raided the Paris headquarters of French media company Vivendi on Thursday in connection with an investigation into alleged market abuse related to its purchase of a stake in Italy's Mediaset last year, a Vivendi spokesman said.

Last December, Vivendi started accumulating Mediaset shares on the open market, eventually spending 1.26 billion euros ($1.5 billion) for an almost 30% stake. Fininvest, the Berlusconi family holding that owns 40% of Mediaset, accused the French group of having previously lowered the value of Mediaset shares to then buy the shares at a cut price.

Write to Nick Kostov at nick.kostov@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2017 07:36 ET (11:36 GMT)