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02 December 2019With the operation voted today by the board of directors of Cir, which gave the green light to the sale for 102.4 million of the controlling stake in Gedi, the geography of the Italian press changes: the family returns to the top of a large publishing group Agnelli-Elkann, through its holding company Exor. And the appointed heir of the lawyer, John Elkann, wanted the operation on behalf of his mother the nephew of Carlo Caracciolo who was the founder and president of the Espresso publishing group and with whom, say the biographers of the prince, the young man who he would arrive at the Fiat summit and then Fca often spoke of newspapers.The change of the guard in Gedi arrives not even four years after the merger of Itedi (the publishing company of the newspapers La Stampa and Il Secolo XIX which was headed by Fca) with the Espresso-la Repubblica group. Also in 2016, Fca decides to withdraw from RCS ('Corriere della Sera' and 'Gazzetta dello Sport'): Urbano Cairo is in control of the publishing company after the launch of an opas.
The group born from the merger of La Stampa and the Republic, with the Exor chaired by John Elkann at around 6%, does not have a smooth navigation, the rumors of Cir's willingness to sell thicken but nobody expects the coup de theater with which, on 13 October last, Carlo De Benedetti asked to buy 29.99% of Gedi, controlled by Cir and its son Rodolfo De Benedetti and whose shareholder is also Marco: the offer, at the unit price of 0.25 euros ad action is rejected by Cir which considers it "inadmissible" and "inadequate" to the real value of the shareholding.
Carlo De Benedetti in a letter explained the meaning of the initiative "aimed at relaunching the group to which I was associated for a long part of my life and which I presided over for ten years, promoting its extraordinary potential". The idea of the Engineer was to "re-launch the Gedi group and then confer the actions in a Foundation".
His proposal leaves a mark inside the family: "I am deeply embittered and bewildered by the unsolicited initiative or agreed upon by my father - stated Rodolfo - and whose only result is to create an unnecessary distraction, which certainly not the need was felt, compared to the work of the many people daily committed to guaranteeing a successful future for the Gedi Group, which has been operating for years in a sector of the most challenging ones.My brothers and I, as controlling shareholders of the Cofide-Cir Group, we will continue to give our full support to management on this path ".