Gianluigi Aponte’s MSC group is one step away from taking over Il Secolo XIX. Through a press release, Gedi (Exor group) announces that it has reached a preliminary agreement with MSC for the sale of the Ligurian newspaper. In detail, Il Secolo XIX newspaper should pass to a company entirely controlled by the cruise giant.
The parties will enter into exclusive negotiations to allow due diligence to be carried out. The operation also includes the sale of the digital and advertising activities relating to Secolo XIX, as well as four newspapers connected to it: The MediTelegraph, L’Avvisatore Marittimo, Il Giornale del Ponente Ligure and Ttm – Tecnologie Trasporti Mare. The agreements relating to the operation, in the event of a successful outcome of the negotiations, will become definitive. MSC is led by Gianluigi Aponte, an entrepreneur who has been operating in the naval, logistics, railway and aviation sectors for years. The entrepreneur recently acquired 50% of Italo trains from the US fund Gip and boasts interests in shipping companies such as Moby and Tirrenia.
«The operation – explains Maurizio Scanavino, CEO of Gedi – aims to ensure a solid future for an important newspaper like Il Secolo XIX». The MSC Group, Scanavino underlined, “will be able to accompany its evolution in this new phase, giving life to a collaboration with Gedi that reflects the shared values of two important entrepreneurial families”. Now Gedi will focus on the potential of the digital transition, fully respecting the identity of the newspapers La Repubblica and La Stampa. And it will develop, concludes the CEO of Gedi, “entertainment initiatives and projects, which originate from the quality of our three radio stations (Deejay, Capital and m2o), to build a strong, innovative and dynamic digital media company”.