Friday, March 25, 2016

Mondadori, Berlusconi: “heavy sacrifices but Rcs books strategic” – BBC

“This is a beautiful and important day for the Mondadori”. He says the president of the publishing house, Marina Berlusconi, the day after the Antitrust decisions about the acquisition of RCS Books by the publishing house of Segrate. The Authority has imposed on the sale of the stake in Marsilio Bompiani. Berlusconi speaks of “heavy sacrifices” and “a highly questionable and far-sighted application of national and European regulations in turn schematic and outdated, not taking into account the specificities and the small size of our market.” Marina Berlusconi added that “the sacrifices that we had to accept in no way affect the importance and strategic value of the acquisition, as regards both the books called” trade “is the school. For the President of Mondadori, we are faced with “positive operation not only for the Mondadori. Meanwhile, Italian remains a publishing company that is among the protagonists of the cultural history of our country. Mondadori and Rizzoli, then, by joining forces, will be able to invest more resources in quality, will help the spread of reading, will contribute to making the Italian publishing more solid and competitive. ” It is also attended by the managing director of Mondadori, Ernesto Mauri. Stressing that “Mondadori writes today a new chapter in its history,” he explained that “since the beginning of the investigation we were in disagreement with the Antitrust Authority on the criterion used in market shares in such a small environment such as Italian: we continue to be convinced that this will bring benefits to all, and that even in its entirety, there would be no injury on the basis of the commitments made by Mondadori for no operator of the book supply chain. ”

the decision of the Authority

Wednesday, the Antitrust Authority has given the green light to the sale of RCS Books Mondadori, however conditioned the obligation to transfer the publisher Bompiani and participation in Marsilio to “buyers previously approved by the authority.” The measure of 105 pages identifies ten ‘remedies’: in addition to the disposals are planned nine remedies “behavioral” aimed at stimulating competition in the publishing and distribution of books, in line with what was agreed with the home buyer. At this point you can proceed to the closing of the transaction, scheduled for April, at the agreed price of 127.5 million, and according to the understanding that lays the sole responsibility of the Mondadori Antitrust examination consequences. The authority chaired by John Pitruzzella part from the fact that the “preliminary evidence” “suggest that Mondadori and RCS Books are the main mutual substitutes” and that “the merger will lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant position in the acquisition markets of copyright and those publishing of books of fiction and non-fiction, children’s books and e-books. ”

A trustee for Marsilio Bompiani and

In relation to the extent “structural,” consists of the two supplies, states that “Mondadori will appoint advance both Marsilio Bompiani and for a “monitoring trustee.” And if it is unable to conclude a binding sale agreement in six months and nine Marsilio Bompiani, “he proceeds to write” for three months, “an irrevocable, exclusive sale in a divestiture trustee.” As for the “behavioral measures”, the first and most important concerns the “renunciation of the option clauses, preference and priority in contracts with authors, signed or to be signed by Mondadori and RCS Books, relating to works of fiction and non-fiction Italian and foreign (with the exclusion of Marsilio, Sonzogno and Bompiani). In essence in contracts with writers there should be a clause stating that the author “will be free to publish the following works with another publisher.” Other measures are intended to mitigate the effects of the increased emphasis on the “Mondadori market more RCS Books». It ranges from the provision of the catalog of e-books to selling platforms that request it, to the visibility of other publishers Mondadori in net sales; from “no deterioration” of the contractual conditions applied to independent bookstores, the donation of books to schools, libraries, hospitals and juvenile prisons; the funding of 225,000 Euros for the Fair “More free books” in the next three editions of the project “in the library for the class”.

March 23, 2016 (edited March 24, 2016 | 17:11)

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