Italian media group Mediaset has no immediate plans to further increase its 22% stake in Digital+, the largest satellite pay-TV platform in Spain.
Mediaset vice-chairman Pier Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference, which took place following its first…
Italian media group Mediaset has no immediate plans to further increase its 22% stake in Digital+, the largest satellite pay-TV platform in Spain.
Mediaset vice-chairman Pier Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference, which took place following its first half 2010 results announcement, that the shareholding was a very good starting point but that the company had ruled out any moves to increase the stake in the short-term. He added that Spanish regulatory approval for the merger should come before September.
Mediaset acquired its stake in Digital+ at the beginning of the year in a complicated transaction that saw the Italian group merge its Spanish free-to-air (FTA) subsidiary Telecinco with Cuatro, the loss-making FTA Spanish TV station owned by Digital+’s parent company Prisa. Under the terms of the deal Telecinco paid an equity consideration of ?550m for Cuatro, following which it acquired 22% of Digital + for ?500m in cash. On completion, Mediaset will own 41.3% of the new Telecinco-Cuatro group, while Prisa will hold 18.3%. Both parties will be given proportional representation on Digital + and Telecinco’s boards.
The transaction was part of a series of fundraising moves by struggling Spanish media group Prisa as it sought to reduce its substantial debt burden. Having failed to sell Digital+ outright after talks with Vivendi and Telefonica fell through, Prisa agreed to offload a 21% stake in the platform in November 2009 to Telefonica. Mediobanca and JPMorgan advised Mediaset on the move, and Allen & Co was Prisa’s exclusive adviser.
