Mediaset heats up over Prosiebensat. Pier Silvio Berlusconi: 'I will not go into politics'
Mfe's top management also met with the governor of Bavaria to explain the industrial interest in the German subsidiary. And in the meantime Mfe's number one, speaking to journalists at the end-of-year conference, closes the door on his political commitment
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'Could this be the good year? Let's hope so'. This is how Pier Silvio Berlusconi, CEO and executive vice-chairman of Mfe, responds to the question on a possible operation on the German investee (with 29.9% of the capital and 30.8% of the voting rights) Prosiebensat. These words were followed by an immediate clarification: 'Above all, we hope it will be the year of a change of pace for management. Because this is clearly not going well'.
The meeting organised with journalists in the Mediaset studios in Cologno Monzese is an opportunity to take stock of the year's end. And the German dossier is evidently among those at the top of the list. The perception is that everything is ready for a lunge on Prosiebensat. Not least because the number one of the Mediaset group confirms the rumour circulating in recent days of a request to a group of banks for a loan of 3.4 billion euros to cover possible financial needs in relation to the German broadcasting group. 'It can be used for that, but also for something else,' he points out. And here, as ascertained by Sole 24 Ore, the reference is to TV realities in Portugal (contacts between Mfe and Media Capital have already been mentioned in the past), but also in Holland and Poland. Prosiebensat remains the priority target. But immediately afterwards - or alternatively if the German operation should for some reason get stuck - there are also other targets, in order to respond to the ultimate strategy, which is to 'achieve a footprint, a European footprint'..
Everything is ready, then, and the impression is that all that is missing is the push of the button. Which for now needs a time frame, for sure, between now and the next German elections on 23 February. Nothing can move before then. After that, however, every moment could be good for the launch of a voluntary takeover bid, which has been populating the reasoning and rumours of analysts and observers for years.
In any case, whatever the choice of how to proceed in the German game "it is obvious that we will keep the German institutions informed. We have relations with the Bavarian institutions. In them there is perhaps more concern about how Prosiebensat is going. Everyone knows that we are in the business'. And in effect, sources refer to a meeting in recent weeks between Mediaset top management, led on that occasion by Pier Silvio Berlusconi himself, and representatives of the Bavarian Lander, including the governor Markus Thomas Theodor Söder, building a relationship that some sources define as collaborative and constructive..
As the Unicredit-Commerzbank case shows, do they also fear in Cologno the possibility that politics might eventually get in the way? 'The free market,' Pier Silvio Berlusconi replies, 'wins out over everything, with respect for laws and institutions. It depends from case to case. And the Commerzbank case is not comparable to Prosiebensat. It is a bit different'.
