Cofina in talks to buy Media Capital
August 15, 2019
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Portuguese media company Cofina is in negotiations with Spanish peer Prisa for the acquisition of Media Capital.
The official confirmation from Cofina came after Portuguese stock market regulator CMVM suspended the trading of shares of the two companies on the Lisbon Stock Exchange, after the news was leaked by daily Expresso.
According to the newspaper, the two companies signed a MoU three weeks ago that grants Cofina exclusivity in negotiating the acquisition of Media Capital.
Media Capital is a Portuguese media group with a presence in TV, audiovisual production, radio, digital, music and the entertainment markets. Its most important asset is national commercial TV channel TVI, the second-most watched after public broadcaster RTP.
Media Capital reported a net profit of €5.9 million in the first half of 2019, down 44% year-on-year.
If a deal were to be reached, it will have to go through the screening of the regulators – the National Communications Authority (Anacom), the Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC) and the Competition Authority.
The greatest difficulty will be in the TV market, since Cofina’s CMTV is the leader among cable channels (where it competes with TVI24). In addition, TVI has several thematic channels on pay-TV platforms such as TVI Reality and TVI Ficção.
Back in 2017, Prisa tried to sell Media Capital to Altice Portugal, but failed to get the green light from the Competition Authority.