TURIN, Italy – A Turin court yesterday stopped the sale of struggling contract manufacturer Carrozzeria Bertone to Italian turnaround specialist Domenico Reviglio.

The court alleges that company matriarch Lilli Bertone did not have the right to make the deal because she provided Reviglio shares that she does not fully control.

The court also alleges that Reviglio and Lilli Bertone's new company, Keplero, was going to make "fraudulent use" of Carrozzeria Bertone assets, because it did not fully own the company.

On January 23, Lilli Bertone, 72, exchanged a 65 percent stake in Carrozzeria Bertone and a 100 percent share in styling company Stile Bertone for 35 percent of Reviglio's new company, Keplero.

The court says that Lilli Bertone could give Reviglio only the 20 percent of Carrozzeria Bertone that she controls herself. The other 45 percent of the contract manufacturer is owned by Nube, a separate financial entity owned by the Bertone family.

Lilli Bertone's daughers, Barbara and Marie Jeanne, considered the transaction illegal and sued to stop the sale.

The court has confiscated the 45 percent owned by Nube as well as all other shares in Carrozzeria Bertone.

Lilli Bertone and Domenico Reviglio have 10 days to decide whether to fight the court's decision.

"I am very sad and really surprised," Lilli Bertone said in a statement.

In a separate statement Reviglio said: "I gave the court the [Bertone] purchasing contract the same day I signed it and I am at full disposal to offer any required clarification."

You may e-mail Luca Ciferri at lciferri@craincom.de