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Vivendi holds 23.15 percent of Telecom Italia after buying more shares

People walk in front of a Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) store in downtown Rio de Janeiro August 20, 2014. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - French media group Vivendi said on Wednesday it now held 23.15 percent of Telecom Italia's shares after buying more of the Italian company's stock on the market. Vivendi said it purchased the shares in order to bring its stakeholding back up to previous levels following an earlier dilution of its holding after a Telecom Italia bond issue. The move comes as French billionaire businessman Vincent Bollore, who is chairman of Vivendi, aims to turn Vivendi into a European media powerhouse. Since Bollore became chairman in 2014, Vivendi has bought its key stake in Telecom Italia and moved back into the video games business by acquiring French company Gameloft and buying a stake in sister company Ubisoft , despite opposition from the founding Guillemot family. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Kim Coghill)