Sometimes it's not a matter of four walls: sometimes it's about history, culture, iconicity, art and even affection. The historical headquarters of the Corriere della Serain via Solferino in Milan, has officially returned to the ownership of the publishing house in recent days.
Thus ended a story that saddened not only the audience of Milanese journalists, but many others who saw in the "Courier” a milestone in Italian intellectual history and lived with frustration its passage into the hands of a US fund.
Instead, in recent days, the last act in the process of repurchasing the property from Blackstone, announced in mid-July, after several months of legal battles which had involved the American fund e RCS Media Group. The operation closed with the balance of 49,9 million euros, after the 10 paid at the beginning of August.
The building, designed by the architect, professor and senator of the Kingdom Luca Beltrami, has housed the newspaper's editorial staff since 1904, and was partly under the protection of the Cultural heritage.
The building, halfway between the eclectic and Liberty style, has undergone over the years several extensions and transformations. At the end of the 2000s, the new wing for the rotary presses was built, at the top of which Alberto Risselli, partner and son-in-law of Gio Ponti, had inserted the director's transparent office. Then at the beginning of XNUMX there was the large-scale intervention by Vittorio Gregotti.
RCS buys back the historic headquarters of Corriere della Sera: a day dedicated to celebrating via Solferino is in sight
The publisher Urban Cairo, president and chief executive officer of Rcs Media Group, said he was "very proud that the Corriere is once again the owner of a building that 118 years ago began to frame its history" and, as he announced in recent weeks, he is thinking to how celebrate Via Solferino. “I would like soon, on a dedicated day, open the property to the city, to the Milanese and anyone who wants to know the history of Courier through the ancient linotype at the entrance, the "staircase" that leads to the management, the photos of the directors and the many names in Italian culture who have made the newspaper great and finally the Albertini room where editorial meetings are held every day" .
Years of legal coups between Blackstone and RCS come to an end
RCS and the Blackstone fund in July they agreed for the former to repurchase the property for 59,9 million euros. The publishing group also agreed to pay an additional ten million for Blackstone's expenses. The real estate complex was purchased by Blackstone for 120 million euros in 2013, 30 of which relating to the historic Corriere headquarters, which RCS is now repurchasing at double the value, but in line with market prices, according to some analyses. The dispute between RCS and Blackstone began in 2018 reaching the Arbitration Chamber of Milan and the Court of New York: the fund had been accused of having taken advantage of the state of crisis in which RCS found itself in 2013 to buy the building in via Solferino in a lower price than the market price. Blackstone had sued Urbano Cairo, who has controlled RCS since July 2016, accusing him of having hindered the sale of the property, also causing a loss in value. Cairo in turn argued that the nine-year-old sales agreement was invalid and had asked for it to be canceled through an arbitration procedure. Now on the legal front, the lawsuits in the United States will all be remitted, while Cairo has already decided not to appeal the latest court ruling of June 8 that proved him wrong. Blackstone has invested over 15 billion euros in Italy in real estate, 22% of Autostrade per l'Italia and other equity investments.
Merger between RCS Mediagroup spa and RCS local editions: worried journalists
Cairo in September it had announced one o'clock merger between Rcs Mediagroup spa and local Rcs Edizioni (who edits the spines of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Mezzogiorno, Bologna and Florence) which were followed by days of strike by the Journalists.
“Local editions were a separate company; had been consolidated into a single company Rcs Edizioni Locali. We will now merge this company into RCS Mediagroup. We will do everything very quickly, by the end of the year for sure" he said.
Speaking of the future on the stock exchange of the editor of Corriere and of Cairo Communication, the publisher specified that it deems the delisting impossible for RCS. “We have historic shareholders such as Mediobanca, Pirelli, Unipol and Della Valle, who I think are happy to remain in RCS, they represent 23-24%, so that would already prevent it”, she specified.
Different situation for the Cairo Communication group, of which Cairo owns 52%, despite never having raised the problem. “I don't know, I haven't thought about it yet. Certainly the values are very low compared, in my opinion, to the value of the company but the market is what rules, everything is possible”.
