By Klaus Lauer and Rachel Extra
BERLIN (Reuters) -German broadcaster ProSiebensat.1 (DE:) on Wednesday pushed again in opposition to a proposal by MFE-MediaForEurope to separate up the corporate and referred to as on shareholders to vote down its high investor’s plan on the annual common assembly subsequent month.
MFE, managed by the household of the late former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, desires to spin off ProSieben’s e-commerce and courting property from the corporate’s core TV operations.
The plan may assist MFE mount a possible buyout for ProSieben’s TV enterprise, which MFE sees as essential for its ambitions to construct a pan-European broadcaster.
“Within the opinion of the manager board and the supervisory board, a split-up … lies within the distinctive curiosity of MFE, however not in the very best pursuits of all different shareholders,” ProSieben stated in an announcement.
The break up would end in a major enhance within the monetary leverage of ProSiebenSat.1 “and thus make strategic acquisitions simply as inconceivable as a customary dividend coverage”, it added.
Shares in ProSieben fell after the corporate’s assertion by as a lot as 3.4% earlier than recovering to 2% at 1045 GMT.
ProSieben’s AGM is scheduled for April 30. The proposed spin-off wants a 75% majority to cross.
MFE would require the help of Czech funding group PPF.
Each buyers have nominated candidates for ProSieben’s supervisory board, with MFE placing ahead former Italian EY auditor Simone Scettri and Italian Citibank funding banker Leopoldo Attolico, whereas PPF has proposed Christoph Mainusch.
ProSieben rejected their proposed candidates, arguing that their election “would result in potential conflicts of curiosity and overrepresentation of the big minority shareholders”.
MFE already operates business TV companies in Italy and Spain. It holds an almost 30% stake in ProSieben.
The Milan-listed media firm sees cross-border offers as a approach to deal with the rising dominance of U.S. streaming giants resembling Netflix (NASDAQ:) and the flight of promoting funding to the likes of Fb (NASDAQ:) and Google (NASDAQ:).
ProSieben has resisted MFE’s calls to affix the undertaking and sought to develop a standalone technique, with administration pursuing the sale of sure investments within the Commerce & Ventures and Courting & Video segments in a bid to scale back debt.
Each boards “plan to focus clearly on the value-maximizing sale of the related investments over the subsequent 12 to 18 months, topic to the market circumstances”, ProSieben stated.
