Paris (AFP)

After months of deadlock, a possible way out of crisis is emerging in the world: Matthieu Pigasse announced Thursday that he agreed to grant the Independence Pole of the newspaper a "right of approval" in case of change of shareholder, in exchange financial guarantees.

The other key investor of the newspaper, Xavier Niel, announced for his part that he now supported the creation of a foundation to "sanctuarize" the independence of the daily.

LNEI, the company grouping the activities of Mr. Pigasse in the media and culture, announced in a statement the signing of an agreement with the Pole of Independence (which represents the employees, journalists and readers of Le Monde) in which M Pigasse grants him a "right of approval".

"This right allows the Pole of Independence to refuse the approval of a new controlling shareholder of the Le Monde Group, subject to the obligation to buy back its participation under framed and objective financial conditions," said LNEI.

For a year and the sale of 49% of the shares of Matthieu Pigasse to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, the Pole of Independence was asking for the introduction of such a right to co-shareholders of the newspaper. If Xavier Niel (who had recapitalized the World in 2010, alongside Matthieu Pigasse and Pierre Bergé, who died in 2017) had already agreed, discussions with Mr Pigasse hindered so far on the financial consequences of this device.

The banker of business feared indeed that the "right of approval" turns against him, forcing him to sell his shares in the world at low prices if the original purchaser was rejected by the Pole of Independence. But the cluster has proposed to introduce a "floor price", which would prevent, in case of exercise of the right of approval, he is financially losing.

- "Relief" from Niel -

In addition, LNEI made a gesture towards the Pole of Independence and Xavier Niel about its plan to buy the shares of the Spanish group Prisa in the newspaper. A project that was greeted as an "aggression" by Mr. Niel and that caused a lot of concern in the newspaper because, without changing the powers of Mr. Pigasse as a shareholder, it would break the balance that prevailed until here with Mr. Niel.

Matthieu Pigasse now proposes to Xavier Niel to buy equally Prisa's stake, which would maintain a "strict balance" in the shareholding of Le Monde. He says he demonstrates "his good faith and his desire to consolidate the full editorial independence of the Group".

In the immediate future, neither the Pole of Independence nor the management of the newspaper commented on these announcements, while general meetings were scheduled Thursday in the newsroom of the daily and its subsidiaries to review the discussions with M Pigasse.

For his part, Xavier Niel welcomed with "relief" the announcements of his co-shareholder, while posing conditions in turn before engraving in the marble the "right of approval".

The telecom troublemaker says he is willing to participate in the repurchase of the shares of Prisa, but only if Mr. Pigasse commits, like himself, to bring the titles thus acquired to the Pole of independence of the World. In this case, Mr Niel believes, the introduction of the "right of approval" can be definitively sealed.

And in addition, Mr. Niel announced that he would propose at a supervisory board in early October to work to create a foundation to "sanctuarize" the independence of the newspaper, and to which would be brought "100% of the capital "of the group.

This wrestling around the world was triggered by the surprise entry to its capital of Czech billionaire Daniel Krestinsky, who became his indirect shareholder a year ago thanks to the acquisition of 49% of Mr. Pigasse's shares.

© 2019 AFP