The Bertone saga has taken another turn as an Italian court has blocked the takeover of the historic Turinese firm by the turnaround specialist Domenico Reviglio which was only announced last week.

The Bertone saga has taken another turn as an Italian court has blocked the takeover of the historic Turinese firm by the turnaround specialist Domenico Reviglio which was only announced last week by majority shareholder Lilli Bertone. Bertone has recently fallen into crisis and its 1,300 workers have been laid off for two years now due to a lack of assembly work.

Just last Wednesday (23rd January) a deal that would see the company change hands was announced between Liili Bertone and Reviglio, a Turin based businessman who has an involvement in testing and certification firm Gruppo Prototipo. It followed a pre-agreement contract signed between the two that was unexpected revealed at the beginning of the year.

"This morning Lilli Bertone and Domenico Reviglio put their signatures to a contract to purchase shares in Stile Bertone S.p.A., Bertone S.p.A. and Carrozzeria Bertone S.p.A with the aim of injecting new industrial life into the Bertone Group," read the statement issued last week by Bertone. The agreement executes the terms of the purchase option presented by Dott. Reviglio and confirms that a new company will be set up in which 35% of the shares are assigned to Ms Lilli Bertone and 65% to Dott Domenico Reviglio," added the statement.

The company is already subject to the proceedings of a bankrupcy tribunal in Turin. The court, which sat earlier this month, was reportedly unimpressed by Reviglio's plans to turnaround Bertone, which have only been sketchily revealed, and the judge will now appoint an administrator.

However last week Lilli's two daughters Barbara (the former Managing Director of Carrozzeria Bertone) and Marie-Jeanne, who have only been communicating with their mother via their lawyers ever since Reviglio abruptly entered the equation at the beginning of the month, have argued that Lilli was in no position to sell the company as she wasn't the majority shareholder of Carrozzeria Bertone and complete owner of Stile Bertone as she claimed. The voting rights process of the firm they believed would allow them to block the deal.