MediaForEurope to merge its Italian and Spanish operations

MediaForEurope (MFE) will go ahead with the merger of its Italian and Spanish operations. On completion of the fusion, MediaForEurope will have total control of its Spanish and Italian operations, as well as being the main shareholder of the German listed broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media.

Registered in the Netherlands and generating most of its revenue in Italy, MediaForEurope last year secured control of around 82.9% of its Madrid-listed TV subsidiary’s capital through a tender offer for the stake in the Spanish broadcaster it did not already own. The group has now offered to pay €3.2687 to Mediaset España shareholders who exercise their right of withdrawal from the merger at a shareholder meeting to be held, presumably in March 2023.

“The process of developing MediaForEurope into a pan-European media group is proceeding as planned. The merger approved today, despite recent difficulties posed by the pandemic and the economic crisis generated by the conflict in Ukraine, is a step towards the construction of a European television hub capable of facing international competition with adequate scale and economic solidity,”  said Pier Silvio Berlusconi, CEO of MediaForEurope.

“This is further confirmation of the project for the progressive multi-country consolidation. A new group of national TV companies focused on the production of local content that will also be able to build a large-scale technological and commercial platform at European level,”  Berlusconi added.