Rise in the morning for the stock of Telecom Italy Media. A few hours from the board that could be decisive for the fate of La7, the shares of the company controlled by Telecom Italia gain more than two points in Piazza Affari. This afternoon the Board will meet to decide whether to sell the issuer a Urban Cairo (formerly the network's advertising concessionaire), as well as to approve the financial statements and the 2013-2015 Plan.
According to Milano Finanza, the group's management would like to close the game once and for all. Last week, however, the Hourglass background by Claudio Sposito is back on the field with an improved offer for the entire TI Media package: La7, La7d, Mtv and the three multiplexes, ie the frequencies assigned by the State. The new proposal would be 300 million (150 of debt assumption, against the previous 90) and, according to some rumors, would leave Telecom with a 40% stake in the multiplexes, which in perspective represent the only truly profitable asset (according to Telecom are worth less than 350 million, La7 is instead in the red by 100 million a year). In a second phase, the private equity fund could join forces with Diego Della Valle.
Apparently however, according to the top management of TI Media, not even the new offer from Clessidra would be sufficient to call into question an operation that for weeks now seems to have been concluded in favor of Cairo (which had been granted exclusive negotiation). The crux is always the price, since the fund's latest proposal would attribute a total value of around 250 million to the multiplexes, a higher figure than in the previous positions, but still far from the minimum threshold of 350 million set by Telecom.
The go-ahead in Cairo was supposed to arrive on February 27, but it was postponed until today to resolve some "contractual aspects". The main nodes include the penalties envisaged for the two parties: the 20 million one that Cairo would demand if Agcom did not confirm button 7 on the remote control (after Telenorba's appeal, it is feared it could be reassigned, but in reality the hypothesis is very remote) and those claimed by TI Media in the event that the buyer does not comply with certain conditions (the lock-up obligation, i.e. the ban on reselling La7 for at least 18 months and the obligation to invest in the restructuring and relaunch of the issuer the 95 million "dowry" which would be paid by TI Media).
