Agreement with Blackstone: RCS buys back the historic headquarters in via Solferino

RCS has repurchased the historic headquarters of Corriere della Sera in via Solferino. The transaction thus puts an end to the dispute related to the previous sale made by the publisher to the US fund Blackstone in 2013. As stated in a joint press release, “the dispute began in July 2018 with RCS’s request to declare this sale invalid. In November 2018, arbitration was initiated at the Milan Arbitration Chamber and legal actions were initiated by Blackstone in New York. In May 2020 and May 2021, the awards issued by the Milan Arbitration Court recognized the validity of the 2013 sale “. The details of the transaction are as follows: “The agreement reached involves a mutual waiver of all shares and RCS has agreed to pay a contribution of 10 million euros to the expenses incurred by Blackstone. Furthermore, RCS will purchase, at the price of 59, 9 million, the building in Via Solferino, the historic headquarters of Corriere della Sera, part of the property complex that is the subject of the dispute “.

Speak Cairo

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Urbano Cairo, president and CEO of RCS, said: “We are pleased to have reached a settlement agreement with Kryalos and Blackstone on all the ongoing disputes and for the opportunity to buy back the historic headquarters in Via Solferino. We accept the decisions of the Arbitral Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which have ascertained the correctness of the actions of Kryalos and Blackstone and the absence of wrongdoing or bad faith in relation to the 2013 transaction. Consequently, RCS acknowledges that Blackstone or Kryalos did not engage in any unfairness and regrets the inconvenience caused by the dispute. Finally, we thank Dr. Claudio Calabi for his contribution to the achievement of this agreement “.