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A coming out into the open which evidently marks a leap in quality in the game that sees Prosiebensat and its future at the center, now that the main Mediaset shareholder has for some time abandoned the role of silent shareholder and has made himself heard for a change of strategy. Starting from the split of the non-core activities in the belly of the Bavarian broadcaster of which the Cologno group is a 29.7% shareholder, on the threshold of the takeover bid.
It is not an indifferent move that has been put on record by Amber Capital which, through the mouth of its president and founder Joseph Oughourlian in an interview with Reuters, clarified that in the next Prosiebensat meeting on 30 April it will take the side of Mediaforeurope. “We will support Mfe’s proposal at the general meeting because we believe it is the only way to create value for shareholders,” Oughourlian said.
The showdown
Pending the indications of the proxies, Amber thus officially declares her voting intentions in the next meeting which, as time passes, is increasingly taking on the contours of a showdown between the first Mediaset shareholder and the current top management of the TV Bavarian. Moreover, after the public position taken by the group led by CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi in mid-March – with specific requests for an evaluation on the separation of the activities and with the presentation of two candidates for the Supervisory board – the climate has continued to warming up even though Mfe has, at least officially, tried to tone down the situation but found itself in the presence of a combative Prosieben. As also demonstrated by the clear “no” from the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of Prosiebensat, with an invitation to shareholders to vote against at the meeting, both on the issue of the separation of non-television activities – and therefore dating and e-commerce – and on the proposal to include Simone Scettri (ex EY) and Leopoldo Attolico, former Citi banker and M&A expert, within the Supervisory Board, while the Czech group Ppf (led by Kellner’s widow, Renata Kellnerova whose family is also connected to the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky), the second largest shareholder with a share above 15%, proposed Christoph Mainusch.
The key points of the assembly
These proposals, however, have been included in the agenda and will now be part of the menu on April 30th in which both of these two requests formulated by the Cologno group represent key points whose approval will require 75% of the favorable votes among the shareholders present. The split of the activities into two companies – at the meeting it was requested to proceed with an evaluation, not to immediately carry out the split – immediately raised the antennas of those who, for some time, have been imagining an M&A action by the Mediaset group, moving on the Bavarian broadcaster with which Italian TV is, unlike in the early days of its investment, substantially tied in terms of market capitalisation. We will see.
As for the appointment of the two directors, if it were to be successful after the two appointments last year it would lead to the Supervisory Board being better aligned with the views of the shareholders (four out of nine members would be members of or close to Mfe).