ProSiebenSat.1 rejects the demands of major Italian shareholder MFE for a spin-off of the dating and e-commerce business. “The board of directors and the supervisory board do not consider the split of the company requested by MFE to be sensible,” said Pro Sieben Sat.1 on Wednesday.
The broadcaster is responding to a counterproposal from MFE Holding at the ProSieben general meeting on April 30th. As a result of the split, the company’s level of debt would increase significantly “and thus make strategic acquisitions just as impossible as a normal dividend policy.” The board of directors and supervisory board of ProSiebenSat.1 came to the conclusion that they would not recommend such a split to the shareholders. “Instead, they prefer to focus clearly on the value-maximizing sale of the relevant investments, which – subject to the market environment – should take place over the next 12 to 18 months.”
MFE, a holding company dominated by the Berlusconi family and the largest shareholder in ProSiebenSat.1, wants to obtain a resolution at the general meeting to bring the dating and e-commerce segments public with independent management. That would make it more attractive for MFE to take over ProSiebenSat.1. The Italians are only interested in the core television business and have already repeatedly called for holdings from the dating portal Parship to the online perfume retailer Flaconi to the comparison portal Verivox.