Agnelli Scion Looks to Buy De Benedetti’s Media Company

(Bloomberg) -- Agnelli family scion John Elkann is in talks to buy one of Italy’s most famous publishers, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale SpA, the owner of daily newspapers including la Repubblica and La Stampa.

Elkann is looking to acquire a controlling stake from the De Benedetti family, whose holding company CIR was due to meet Monday to discuss the possible deal. Shares in CIR rose 2.8% by 9:08 a.m. in Milan. GEDI shares were suspended from trading.

If Exor agrees to buy the 44% of GEDI owned by CIR it will be forced to bid for the rest. At the end of the process, one of the options would be to delist the company, people familiar with the situation said. Elkann already owns about 6% of GEDI through Exor NV, the Agnellis’ holding company.

Elkann, who is also chairman of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, is on a deal spree. Fiat, which has Exor as its biggest shareholder, is in discussions for a tie-up with rival carmaker Peugeot SA and a memorandum of understanding is expected to be signed within weeks.

The Agnellis have a long history with the center-leaning La Stampa, the most iconic daily in Turin, where Fiat was born in 1899. They bought it in the 1920s and nine decades later, in 2016, it was merged with De Benedetti’s Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso SpA to form GEDI.

The tie-up failed to revive its fortunes, and last year the company rejected a takeover from another top executive, former Telecom Italia SpA Chief Executive Officer Flavio Cattaneo.

In October, Carlo De Benedetti, the 84-year-old founder of L’Espresso and father of the current owners, unveiled an unsolicited offer to buy 30% of GEDI. The sons flatly rejected it and Rodolfo De Benedetti said he was “shocked” by his father’s move.

GEDI shares declined 0.4% on Friday, giving the company a market value of 144 million euros ($159 million).

La Repubblica is a center-left title that’s been a staunch critic of billionaire media tycoon and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniele Lepido in Milan at dlepido1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Thomas Pfeiffer, Ross Larsen

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