Activist Clearway has stake in Rai Way as 'long-term investor' (updated)

Rai Way SpA

30/01/2024 17:49

(Rewrites with Clearway spokesperson statement)
       MILAN, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Clearway Capital Partners has
a stake in Italian broadcasting towers company Rai Way
 RWAY.MI , the activist investor said on Tuesday, after a report
about its investment sent shares in the Milan-listed company
higher.
    "We can confirm that Clearway Capital Partners Fund is a
shareholder of Rai Way", a spokesperson said in an emailed
statement, without disclosing the size of the stake nor the
structure of its investment.
    Clearway added it was a "long-term investor and always seeks
to engage constructively with our portfolio companies for the
benefit of long-term shareholders and other key stakeholders".
    Shares in Rai Way, which is controlled by state broadcaster
RAI, rose as much as 5% after Bloomberg reported Clearway had
built a minority stake in Rai Way in a bid to promote a mooted
plan to merge with rival EI Towers.
    Rai Way declined to comment.
    Plans to merge Rai Way and EI Towers to create a national
broadcasting towers champion have been on investors' radar for
nearly a decade but have failed to materialise so far.
    This month, state-owned Rai, which currently owns a 65%
stake in Rai Way, announced plans to sell a stake of up to 15%
in the TV tower company, drawing criticism from a group of
minority investors in Rai Way, a letter sent to the state TV
board and seen by Reuters showed.
    The group of shareholders argued the stake sale would create
less value for Rai Way's investors than a combination with EI
Towers.
    Under a previous merger blueprint, Rai Way investors would
have received a special dividend of around 310-400 million euros
($335-435 million), according to Kepler analyst calculations.
    EI Towers is 60%-owned by Italian infrastructure fund F2i, 
with the remaining 40% held by Italy's top commercial
broadcaster MediaForEurope (MFE)  MFEB.MI , which is controlled
by the family of late media tycoon and political leader Silvio
Berlusconi.
    ($1 = 0.9222 euros)

 (Reporting by Elvira Pollina
Editing by Keith Weir and Mark Potter)
 ((elvira.pollina@thomsonreuters.com;))