Mediaset looking to buy all of Spanish division?
September 12, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Italian commercial broadcasting giant Mediaset is reportedly looking to buy the 48 per cent of Mediaset Spain (MSE) it does not own.
Bloomberg is reporting the news, although Mediaset has denied the story.
A note to investors from equity analysts at Deutsche Bank says that the arguments for broader TV consolidation “remains weak”.
The bank’s note says: “This reignites the issue of cross-border consolidation amongst European TV groups, as the shift to on-demand & online video is creating larger synergies from combining national TV groups, and the sector sell-off has made valuations less demanding. But while a Mediaset buy-in of its MSE minorities is possible, it does not look compelling. The case for pan-European consolidation is easily overstated and real synergies are small. Moreover, much of the value can be achieved through the pan-European JVs, like EBX and Ad Connect. There is no need to double-up on challenged linear TV advertising exposure when most groups are trying to diversify away from this area into online, direct to consumer and programme production.