French tycoon to fight on over Adidas legal battle

PARIS, Oct 11: Disgraced French tycoon Bernard Tapie vowed today to continue his legal battle for substantial damages related to the sale of sports equipment maker Adidas despite a court ruling against him.

Yesterday, France's highest court quashed an earlier ruling that the former government minister should be awarded 135 million euros (170 million dollars) for losses incurred over the sale of Adidas more than 10 years ago.

The flamboyant Tapie, flanked by his lawyers, told reporters in Paris that he would fight on and seek to get damages of as much as 1 billion euros (1.3 billion dollars).

''This is a fight that we must win,'' said the 63-year old one-time owner of Olympique Marseille soccer club.

''The score is nil-nil. We're in extra time.'' The sale of Adidas dates back to the early 1990s.

Tapie had given a subsidiary of then state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais powers to sell his Adidas stake in order to avoid charges of a conflict of interest on joining the Socialist government in 1993.

Tapie has consistently said he was deliberately misadvised by Lyonnais over the sale, for which he received the equivalent of 318 million euros.

Credit Lyonnais subsidiary SBDO bought the Adidas shares from Tapie and then, in a complex scheme involving offshore banks, sold them on to businessman Robert-Louis Dreyfus for the equivalent of 708 million euros.

Tapie also told reporters he was cautious over signs that there could be an out-of-court settlement, after a civil servant involved in the case told French newspapers that the Credit Lyonnais camp was prepared to hold talks with the Tapie camp.

''The next step is back to the appeals court,'' he said.

Tapie earned fame and fortune by rescuing troubled companies in the 1970s and 1980s and ended up as urban affairs minister under Socialist president Francois Mitterrand.

However, in 1997 his career descended into disgrace after he was convicted over a soccer match-fixing scandal and tax fraud.

In 2005 Tapie also received a three-year jail sentence for tax fraud but he avoided going to prison after the judge took into account time already served for previous convictions.

Tapie has recently reinvented himself as a soccer pundit and actor, starring as a detective in a popular TV show.

REUTERS