BERLIN (Reuters) – Broadcaster MediaForEurope (MFE) has no plans to make a takeover bid for German competitor ProSiebenSat.1 at the moment, the Italian firm’s finance chief told daily Handelsblatt.
“Currently, we have no such plans. What will be in a year’s time, we will see then,” Marco Giordani was quoted as saying by Handelsblatt on Monday.
MFE, formerly Mediaset, is controlled by the family of Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It announced last week that it already had a stake of more than 25% in ProSiebenSat.1.
At more than 30%, the Italian company would have to make a mandatory offer to the remaining ProSieben shareholders according to German law.
So far, MFE is not represented in ProSieben’s supervisory board. Two seats are due to be reassigned at the group’s shareholders meeting in May, according to Handelsblatt. Candidates are former RTL boss Bert Habets and Rolf Nonnenmacher, who has been on the committee since 2015, the paper said.
Giordani said he would hope for a candidate that will be fully supported by MFE. Otherwise MFE could suggest rival candidates. “In any case, these would not be MFE representatives but independent managers with the right qualification,” the finance chief said.
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Zuzanna Szymanska, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
