Regulator suspends Cofina and Media Capital share trading

Portugal’s stock market commission CMVM has suspended trading of Media Capital and Cofina shares.

The decision was taken for the duration of “intense negotiations” which are going on between the two media groups after news emerged that Cofina is to launch a take-over bid for television station TVI.
The CMVM says that share trading will be suspended until it receives “information relevant to the market”.
Media Capital, which was the object of negotiations for a takeover by Altice Portugal just under two years and which was rejected by the monopolies commission, has seen net profits rise from €12 million in 2012 to €21.6 million in 2018.
Cofina issued a communiqué overnight on Tuesday (17) informing that: “complex negotiations are underway with Prisa (which owns Media Capital) and which have intensified in the past few hours in order to reach an agreement for the acquisition of Media Capital by Cofina.”
Cofina has stressed, however, that despite advances in the negotiations, “It is not possible to estimate a concrete date for reaching an agreement, which, in any case, would depend on the prior approval of the Cofina and Prisa boards.”
PRISA is a leader company in the creation of cultural, educational and entertainment content in both the Spanish and Portuguese markets.
It operates in 24 countries throughout Latin America, Spain, Portugal, Brazil and operates TV and radio services for the Hispanic speaking community in the US.
Cofina is a Portuguese media conglomerate established in 1995 with headquarters in Porto. It owns two of the country’s most successful and widely circulated daily newspapers Correio da Manhã and Record.