Movement of media acquisitions in Portugal “will continue”
Dsince the year began to be seen in the acquisition of the media area in Portugal: the purchase of Media Capital’s radio stations by the German group Bauer; Euronews and Newsplex (Nascer do Sol and Inevitável) for the Alpac Capital fund; and Jornal Económico (JE) by Media9Par, a subsidiary of the Emerald Group for the media area of Angolan businessman N’Gunu Tiny, who also has the newspaper Novo Semanário Original and Livre in the works.
“The Group’s media are crucial to having again, necessarily, an importance”, considers Luís Mergulhão, president of Omnicom Media.
And why did they gain importance? Because the moments that matter are now political, the pandemic, the evolution of economies at various levels and questions about change, climate change, make people important now as real news, even in this sense. use of social networks”, in which the media are also present, he argues.
The fact that standard expansion patterns, for example, have the same model of adoption of digital expansion standards, for example, which have the same reference model, an exemplification of digital expansion”, Luís says Mergulhão, with the project very different from CNN expansion pattern.
“Social media are also produced, but they are presented technologically but they are in their expression also in the networks, but also in their offer, but only in opinion and for the most part”.
This point is important because “this means that the concept of the media is closed and there is also a clear interest in investing in the media because it is a sector that is obviously unimportant and has a future”, he defends.
However, Portugal “is not oblivious” to this trend and “this is what explains a fund of movements not just investment groups in having a position in the investment fund sector. And what is it that investment funds want ? Making a move that later on can have an added value”, argues Luís Mergulhão.
This shopping movement in the media sector “will continue” in Portugal, he says.
“It is not just a component of generated profits”, argues that determines the interest of investors Luís Mergulhão.
Sometimes, “there is an interest in having a position in the media” to “influence civil society or control governmental or governmental entities, but not the progress”,
In the media, those who bet on the gains from the sale of a position “not so much in the income” that they obtain throughout the year make money, obviously.
Manuel, consultant in the media area at SF Media, “media is still being won”, underlining the sector that “is money that is a reference in crisis” in this area is a consultant that money is the press.
“The advertising market has been noticing, in the Portuguese case, in the post-pandemic period it has been significant”, with television being the main source of public revenue followed by digital.
Bauer’s purchase of the radios was “a normal consolidation process and a ‘win-win’ solution [vencedora]”Because “Media Capital wanted to sell an area of its business that was less strategic than television”, says the consultant.
And it benefits from situations: “From a commercial point of view, it has been stable twice in terms of revenue, it maintains more or less its ‘share’ of advertising investment within the total market and, therefore, it remains a business that can be interesting On the other hand, as radio stations in the Capital, in terms of audience reached, they have been consolidating their position”, explains Manuel Falcão.
This was “a good time” to sell because there were those who thought and those who bought it are one of the “biggest European radio groups that have been carrying out a directing operation across Europe”.
Regarding the purchase of JE, the consultant says that Media9Par “is from an Angolan citizen who clearly has a relevant position in society and in Portugal, because he studies here, and clearly has an assessment of being an influential person in the Portuguese-speaking space in the coming years. “.
“I think that’s where he is positioned with this purchase. He has Forbes, an international reference title, in Portugal he co-founded Polígrafo. Now, with the purchase of Económico and Novo, he expands his portfolio and can go from hence in the sense that he probably wants: that he is a relevant figure in the area of the press, the Portuguese-speaking media”, he underlines.
JE already had editions “more focused on other geographies”, so it matches Media9Par’s strategy.
“There is an investor who wants to gain prominence and there is a Portuguese media company that would like to have a greater presence” in Portuguese-speaking territories, he points out.
In the case of the purchase of Euronews, Manuel Falcão recalls that it is a private company created almost 30 years ago in which “a third of the revenues come from the European Council”.
In February 2015, the Board of Euronews, a Media Globe mogul bid for independence, to acquire a controlling stake in the channel.
“This operation has always raised doubts” and the audits that were carried out showed “some discomfort due to this situation”, in progress.
Since Euronews was founded, Europe “has already placed almost 400 million euros of funding there and during the period when the Egyptian was the majority shareholder it placed 130 million euros”.
However, Euronews is relayed by various public services, including RTP, and an alternative demand for the Egyptian shareholder has long been anticipated.
“I think that’s where the related Alpac Capital comes in, policyholders are very well connected in Brussels”, Manuel Falcão.
How far this a deal as a European Union or an opportunity is for Alpac, knowing that it has guarantees for a financial sum of 3 million euros a year, is a question.
“Business can make a fund that wants to boost this investment”, the fact that it is felt by the Portuguese is, in his opinion, “a side story
Alpac “has taken advantage of its knowledge in Brussels”, now whether it is “during or transitory, the future will tell”, he concludes.
As for the purchase of the bonds, Manuel “probably also suggestions from Falcão that could be an opportunity”.
Quite possibly what may be considering the fund that can now be acquired if they appreciate one day” to leave with capital gains, so “it doesn’t seem strategic to me”, so “it doesn’t seem strategic to me”.
For Martim Menezes, partner at Abreu Advogados and specialist in the media area, this acquisition movement has been going on for some time, citing the entry of entrepreneurs Mário Ferreira at Media Capital and de Galinha at Global Media.
“We have the purchase of securities and the purchase of media groups”, underlining, stating that he is “convinced” that this type of movement “will be repeated”.
In other words, not speaking in national assets and I think this move is in line with international strategic moves, even at a time when a directive is planned – at the beginning of the third quarter – on .
To what happened with a Bauer, “assets that had a certain dimension of the international awakening of similar ones that perhaps were not common so common” in looking at the Portuguese market, considered the lawyer.
“I am sure that there will be other movements from outside Portugal to Portugal”, reinforces Martim Menezes.
Regarding the operations carried out, Bauer “is that he is a ‘player’ in the area”, the others do not, “at a time when it is important to have influence”, he points out, referring to there is also only an “economic motivation that makes sense to enter”. in business.
The alert must have more regulatory advocate” which provides for a strengthening of transparency obligations and, possibly, a strengthening of transparency obligations and, possibly, a strengthening of the administrations’ transparency obligations, namely, an assessment of the suitability of the nested administrations of the groups. .
“There will be changes in the way the media business operates” and “also more transparency mechanisms to prevent political interference”, he highlights, as well as seeing how Google, Facebook, among others, will be made to contribute, at least at European level. .
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