Italy-based broadcaster MFE-MediaForEurope acquired a 32.9 percent stake in Portuguese media business Impresa for around €17.3 million, another step in its ongoing push to build a pan-European media giant able to stand up to US competitors. As part of the share purchase deal, MFE and Impresa will collaborate around joint advertising solutions and a shared digital platform.
Impresa owns Portuguese TV network SIC, alongside digital and print properties including weekly newspaper Expresso. It’s a major player in the Portuguese media market — SIC has frequently ranked as Portugal’s most watched TV channel in recent years, and Expresso ranks as one of its most popular newspapers. Through this deal, MFE now has significant interests in Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal.
Another step in MFE’s European project
The news comes less than three months since MFE acquired a majority stake in ProSiebenSat.1, successfully taking control of the Northern European TV business after first buying a stake in the company back in 2019. In the case of Impresa however, MFE’s move to buy a minority stake doesn’t look like a precursor to a full takeover attempt. While ProSieben’s board for a long time resisted the Italian media company’s overtures, Impresa’s majority shareholders the Balsemão family are keen to work with MFE. CEO Francisco Pedro Balsemão said Impresa and MFE share a vision focused on “quality content, local production, and technological innovation”.
A statement outlining this new deal released by MFE echoed the logic which has underpinned the company’s entire pan-European project, declaring that the partnership is designed to leverage economies of scale to help both groups better navigate an increasingly competitive European media landscape. MFE’s CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi added that Portugal was a logical target for expansion for the group, given its existing strength in Spain.
“With this operation MFE is expanding its broadcasting and commercial reach to the entire Iberian Peninsula,” said Berlusconi. “Major advertising investors consider Spain and Portugal to be a single market, and thanks to this new partnership with Impresa and Mediaset España, we will further improve our positioning in the European market.”
Berlusconi added that the two companies will begin “operational collaborations” immediately. The initial focus will be on advertising sales and the companies’ digital platforms.
Consolidation continues to heat up
It’s been a busy year for M&A across Europe. Alongside MFE’s deals, RTL has acquired Sky Deutschland, DPG Media has bought RTL Nederland, Schibsted has bought TVM, and Viaplay has become the sole owner of Allente Group. Just last month, the prospect emerged of a major tie-up in the UK too, with the news that Sky had made a bid for ITV’s TV broadcasting business.
For those, like MFE, who argue that consolidation is the best way for European media companies to compete with the massive US-based players, this is presumably all a step in the right direction. This issue, of course, is that those same massive US-based companies are also going after M&A-led growth, with Paramount and Netflix both showing interest in buying Warner Bros. Discovery.
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