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August 10, 2005
This newspaper is mine (3)
Family business
Based on “Affari di Famiglia” by G. Turani, la Repubblica Aug 9th
The final assault to RCS-Corriere della Sera may have just started.
The plan is progressing thru several stages. An IPO is to be launched first and activities partitioned and sold. Publishing activities may be transferred to Flammarion (France) and advertising go to other entities. Partitioning seems to be necessary to finance back the IPO, which is going to be very expensive. Interestingly it won't be Mr. Ricucci to launch the IPO. Most likely it will be an International group, headed by Mr. Livolsi, a member of the Fininvest board and personal friend of Mr. Berlusconi.
Livolsi is known to be personal finance manager to Berlusconi as well as to the Italian premier's wife, Veronica. He owns his own merchant bank and is the one who convinced Berlusconi to incorporate his media business years ago. It seems rather naive that Livolsi could have started this endeavor on his own, aware as he surely is of the very relevant political aspects of the takeover.
Rumors are that Ricucci, unable to stand his current position in the RCS affaire and lacking the necessary backing from the Popolare di Lodi and Mr. Fiorani (Fiorani out of business and in the prosecutor's crosshairs) may have tried Livolsi for help and coverage.
Livolsi plans to launch the IPO, break-up the property and, most importantly, find a strong, foreign ally to bring into the quest. The IPO can only succeed if the internal controlling Syndicate, that manages roughly 60%, breaks down, and a 12-15% flips out of the pact. This is not guaranteed to happen.
Insiders confirm the International group in question is Spanish Vocento, owner of Abc (a national newspaper) and some local publications. Vocento estimated total revenues are of 700 millions (euros) but RCS revenues are three times that (a little help from friendly banks needed).
Vocento is known to be very close to former Spanish premier Mr. Aznar, a friend of Berlusconi and participates with Mediaset in Telecinco (Spanish media). The Spanish company is interested in acquiring control of El Mundo (controlled by RCS) and may be interested in just this transaction.
Nobody can tell today in which direction the plan is going to unravel but it is clear that may a fraction of the present scenario be confirmed, Berlusconi is going to deal with (a few more) political problems.
Posted by lck at August 10, 2005 01:02 PM
