MFE may lift bid for ProSieben, open to talking to PPF

By Elvira Pollina

COLOGNO MONZESE, Italy (Reuters) -MFE-MediaForEurope, the TV group controlled by Italy's Berlusconi family, may raise its bid for German peer ProSiebenSat.1 to respond to a counter offer by Czech investment group PPF, the head of the media group said.

At an event held late on Tuesday at the company's headquarters near Milan, CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi added his company is open to talks with PPF, which is the second-largest investor in ProSieben behind MFE, when their offers are over.

"Everything is possible, we'll see," said Berlusconi, the son of the late former prime minister, when asked about a potential increase of the nearly 1 billion euro cash-and-share bid it pitched at the minimum price allowed by law in April.

That move triggered an all-cash counter bid by ProSieben's second-largest investor PPF, which owns private TV stations across six Eastern European countries. 

The Czech conglomerate offered to buy ProSieben shares at 7 euros a shares, proposing a 21% premium to the price implied by MFE's bid, to raise its stake up to 29.99%, just below a threshold which would trigger a mandatory takeover.

MFE is seeking to tighten its grip on German peer ProSieben as part of a push to build a pan-European advertising-funded broadcaster.

Both the MFE and PPF offers end on August 13.

"Until then, it will be a chess match... Technically, we cannot talk, and we are not talking with PPF now, but after, we would not dislike having a strong partner, experienced in the media sector," said Berlusconi.

Speaking on the sidelines of the same event, MFE Chief Financial Officer Marco Giordani said any potential MFE move to raise the bid would likely come after July 31 when ProSieben is due to report first-half results.

"We haven't decided yet. But (if we raise our bid), we won't do anything crazy," he said, referring to the size of a potential sweetener.

Another option for MFE would be buying ProSieben shares directly on the market after its current tender is over.

Legacy broadcasters have seen their business dented by U.S. streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, which are grabbing advertising spending and viewers.

In a battle to catch up with U.S. heavyweights, European broadcaster RTL, which has large TV operations in Germany, last month announced an agreement to buy the local operations of pay TV group Sky. 

For its part, ProSieben has been striving to remain independent, and rebuffed MFE's approach. 

(Reporting by Elvira PollinaEditing by Keith Weir)