Mediaset shareholders approve cross-border venture
September 5, 2019
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
An extraordinary shareholders’ meeting of Italian broadcaster Mediaset has approved the merger with Mediaset España into holding company MediaForEurope (MFE).
The transaction should be approved today, September 5th, by shareholders of Mediaset España.
All the Mediaset and Mediaset España shares will be cancelled and the shareholders will receive MFE ordinary shares.
Netherlands-based MFE will bring together all the group’s media activities, including the 9.6 per cent stake in German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1. Now, the shareholders of Mediaset and Mediaset España will have 15 days in Italy and one month in Spain to exercise the possible withdrawal.
Vivendi, which owns 9.9 per cent of the voting rights, has opposed the setting up of MFE. The French company has also announced it will “use all legal means in all jurisdictions and countries relevant to challenge the legality of the new project, both in terms of national and European laws”.
Mediaset CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi said he was not worried about a possible withdrawal of Vivendi from the shareholding structure, adding that in the event this should happen “other investors are ready to enter the field”.