A slap in the face for Edipresse
Local TV Edipresse is rubbing its cheeks: Léman Bleu, the central building block in its TV strategy, has turned to the Frenchman Hersant.
Local TV Edipresse is rubbing its cheeks: Léman Bleu, the central building block in the TV strategy, has turned to the Frenchman Hersant.Bad luck for Tibère Adler, CEO of the Edipresse Group: entering the local TV medium is proving far more difficult than planned. The Geneva broadcaster Léman Bleu (LB), of all places, on which he was counting so much in his TV strategy, has put a huge boulder in his path. In February, when Adler announced his involvement in the TV sector, everything still looked so good with LB: the Edipresse Group, which has held a two percent stake in the station for years, offered to do something good for the struggling station by increasing its stake to 22 percent by the middle of the year and also taking over the management on May 1. But now, one week before the planned launch of Ecran Pub, the newly founded TV marketing company of Edipresse, the basket has been turned down from Geneva: the majority of the LB Board of Directors not only spurns Edipresse's courtship, it even wants to withdraw the Lausanne-based group's right of first refusal and instead welcome Tibère Adler's French competitor Hersant and the Geneva-based investor and director Stéphane Barbier-Müller as major shareholders.
Edipresse also receives a rejection in terms of advertising sales. Antoni Mayer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LB, is working with Hersant and Barbier to set up a separate management organization in which the three partners will each hold a third. Time is pressing, as the previous marketer Force Promotion in Lausanne wants to give up its TV activities at the end of May and has already given notice to its TV sales staff.
Three-quarters majority requiredTwo unknowns remain, however: Firstly, the resolution of the LB Board of Directors still has to be approved by the Annual General Meeting at the end of May. As the right of first refusal is also to be excluded, three quarters of the shareholders must approve the project. Although Mayer is confident that he will achieve this majority (see box), Edipresse will not remain idle either. Christophe Rasch, who has been responsible for TV at Edipresse since February, is relaxed and describes the Board of Directors' decision as merely "a first step". The decision will certainly be corrected at the AGM with the support of the City of Geneva. Marcel Siegenthaler, Head of Advertising Market at Edipresse, is not worried either. The decision is merely a preliminary decision and by no means a disaster, he said.
The Leuenberger department also has the final say on major shareholder changes. However, as one French shareholder (the Bianco family) is primarily being replaced by another from the same country, Antoni Mayer does not anticipate any problems.
But what led to the slap in the face for Adler and Rasch? Mayer explains it like this: shortly after Adler announced that Edipresse wanted to increase its stake in LB, Hersant also submitted an offer. Hersant publishes the newspapers La Côte, Impartial and L'Express in French-speaking Switzerland and is in fierce competition with Edipresse's 24 Heures. The latter responded to Hersant's offer by improving its own. From a financial point of view, both offers ended up being similarly good, says Mayer.
Two aspects would have tipped the scales in favor of Hersant: Firstly, Edipresse was bluffing. At the beginning of April, Adler and Rasch announced that they had signed a four-year exclusive management agreement with LB. In fact, they had only signed a letter of intent to this effect with Force Promotion, which expressly made LB's consent a condition. This consent was still outstanding. Furthermore, according to Mayer, two people from Edipresse inspected the LB offices a few weeks ago and "acted like gentlemen". Affronts like this from Lausanne are not welcome in Geneva.
However, the decisive factor in choosing Hersant was an option that LB had been pursuing for a long time: "With Hersant, we can finally do cross-border TV," says Mayer. Hersant is already involved in three TV projects in and around Geneva, in Lyon, Grenoble and - just outside Geneva - TV 8 Mont Blanc. Incidentally, Hersant only became involved in the latter at the end of 2004, also thanks to the Bianco family, who held shares there and wanted to sell them as they did in Geneva.
LB could now join a TV chain of Hersant that stretches from Lake Geneva almost to the Mediterranean. This would open up numerous opportunities for cooperation for LB: the exchange of programs, for example, and entering into an advertising combination that extends beyond national borders. At the same time, as a broadcaster covering the cosmopolitan city of Geneva, LB would remain an indispensable partner in the French-speaking Switzerland pool for the Edipresse-affiliated western Swiss broadcasters TVRL (Lausanne), Ici-TV (Vevey) and Canal Nord-Vaudois (Yverdon), as well as for other TV stations.
Four instead of two marketersMayer does not want to burn bridges despite the slap in the face to Edipresse. But he is sticking to his guns: LB should now be able to orient itself towards both France and French-speaking Switzerland and thus retain more independence.
And as if he were trying to gain sympathy for his cheating, he says: "Remember that Geneva's border with the rest of Switzerland is only 6 kilometers long, while the border with France is 110 kilometers long." He also believes that the investments made by Hersant and Barbier will make LB less dependent on subsidies from the city of Geneva in future. These had previously amounted to around CHF 270000 per year.
If the LB-GV and DETEC give their approval, it will be exciting to see how the local TV market in French-speaking Switzerland develops. We can then expect new impetus from both Edipresse and Hersant.
In addition, four instead of two marketers will be knocking down the doors of advertising clients in future - in addition to Hersant and Edipresse, Radiotele and, more recently, IP Multimedia. Alliances are therefore likely. The first of these could come as early as this week, when Radiotele and Edipresse discuss the launch of a RomandieNewsCombi, a counterpart to the Swiss-German TeleNewsCombi.
Small shareholders will tip the balanceCurrently, Léman Bleu (LB) has a share capital of CHF 1.8 million. The main shareholder is the cable network operator Naxoo (formerly Tele Genève) with 40 percent, the French Bianco family, which has been involved since the company was founded, holds 30.5 percent, the City of Geneva 12.5 percent, Edipresse (via Tribune de Genève) 2 percent and various small shareholders own a total of 15 percent. Important: The City of Geneva also holds a 50.1% stake in Naxoo.
The Board resolution now provides for a completely new shareholder structure for LB. In a first step, the pre-emptive right is to be abolished. Hersant and Stéphane Barbier-Müller will then each hold 15.25 percent of the shares.
Bianco shares and then, in a third step, acquire the
share capital to around CHF 3 million, so that Naxoo, Barbier and Hersant each receive around 30 percent, while the remainder is divided between the City of Geneva, Edipresse and the small shareholders.
Antoni Mayer, Director of Naxoo and Chairman of the Board of Directors of LB, must now push this plan through at the Annual General Meeting at the end of May. He believes that the chances of achieving the required three-quarters majority are good because Naxoo, which he represents alone, and the Bianco family support the resolution. That already makes 70.5 percent. For the remaining 4.5 percent, Mayer must convince either some small shareholders or the representative of the City of Geneva. However, the latter has reportedly voted against the plan in the BoD. "Theoretically, the matter is close," admits
Mayer, "but we already have a few friends of Léman Bleu among the small shareholders." (mk)
Competition Commission decision still pendingWhether Edipresse will be allowed to acquire a 35% stake in Vaud TV, the planned merger of the Vaud TV stations TVRL, Ici-TV and Canal Nord-Vaudois, is still open. The Competition Commission (ComCo) does not yet know whether it will investigate the project. However, it has requested a statement from Edipresse and has since received it, said Deputy Director Patrik Ducrey. The background to the possible investigation:
In 2002, Edipresse was only allowed to take over the Corbaz titles La Presse Nord-Vaudois and La Presse Riviera-Chablais (which have since been integrated into 24 Heures) because the Group was prepared to relinquish its Corbaz stake in Ici-TV. By acquiring a stake in Vaud TV, however, this waiver could possibly be circumvented. However, the imminent entry of Edipresse into TV marketing poses no problem for the Competition Commission. (mk)
Hand it out, take it: Who will prevail in the battle for pole position in the French-speaking Swiss TV market?
Markus Knöpfli
Edipresse also receives a rejection in terms of advertising sales. Antoni Mayer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LB, is working with Hersant and Barbier to set up a separate management organization in which the three partners will each hold a third. Time is pressing, as the previous marketer Force Promotion in Lausanne wants to give up its TV activities at the end of May and has already given notice to its TV sales staff.
Three-quarters majority requiredTwo unknowns remain, however: Firstly, the resolution of the LB Board of Directors still has to be approved by the Annual General Meeting at the end of May. As the right of first refusal is also to be excluded, three quarters of the shareholders must approve the project. Although Mayer is confident that he will achieve this majority (see box), Edipresse will not remain idle either. Christophe Rasch, who has been responsible for TV at Edipresse since February, is relaxed and describes the Board of Directors' decision as merely "a first step". The decision will certainly be corrected at the AGM with the support of the City of Geneva. Marcel Siegenthaler, Head of Advertising Market at Edipresse, is not worried either. The decision is merely a preliminary decision and by no means a disaster, he said.
The Leuenberger department also has the final say on major shareholder changes. However, as one French shareholder (the Bianco family) is primarily being replaced by another from the same country, Antoni Mayer does not anticipate any problems.
But what led to the slap in the face for Adler and Rasch? Mayer explains it like this: shortly after Adler announced that Edipresse wanted to increase its stake in LB, Hersant also submitted an offer. Hersant publishes the newspapers La Côte, Impartial and L'Express in French-speaking Switzerland and is in fierce competition with Edipresse's 24 Heures. The latter responded to Hersant's offer by improving its own. From a financial point of view, both offers ended up being similarly good, says Mayer.
Two aspects would have tipped the scales in favor of Hersant: Firstly, Edipresse was bluffing. At the beginning of April, Adler and Rasch announced that they had signed a four-year exclusive management agreement with LB. In fact, they had only signed a letter of intent to this effect with Force Promotion, which expressly made LB's consent a condition. This consent was still outstanding. Furthermore, according to Mayer, two people from Edipresse inspected the LB offices a few weeks ago and "acted like gentlemen". Affronts like this from Lausanne are not welcome in Geneva.
However, the decisive factor in choosing Hersant was an option that LB had been pursuing for a long time: "With Hersant, we can finally do cross-border TV," says Mayer. Hersant is already involved in three TV projects in and around Geneva, in Lyon, Grenoble and - just outside Geneva - TV 8 Mont Blanc. Incidentally, Hersant only became involved in the latter at the end of 2004, also thanks to the Bianco family, who held shares there and wanted to sell them as they did in Geneva.
LB could now join a TV chain of Hersant that stretches from Lake Geneva almost to the Mediterranean. This would open up numerous opportunities for cooperation for LB: the exchange of programs, for example, and entering into an advertising combination that extends beyond national borders. At the same time, as a broadcaster covering the cosmopolitan city of Geneva, LB would remain an indispensable partner in the French-speaking Switzerland pool for the Edipresse-affiliated western Swiss broadcasters TVRL (Lausanne), Ici-TV (Vevey) and Canal Nord-Vaudois (Yverdon), as well as for other TV stations.
Four instead of two marketersMayer does not want to burn bridges despite the slap in the face to Edipresse. But he is sticking to his guns: LB should now be able to orient itself towards both France and French-speaking Switzerland and thus retain more independence.
And as if he were trying to gain sympathy for his cheating, he says: "Remember that Geneva's border with the rest of Switzerland is only 6 kilometers long, while the border with France is 110 kilometers long." He also believes that the investments made by Hersant and Barbier will make LB less dependent on subsidies from the city of Geneva in future. These had previously amounted to around CHF 270000 per year.
If the LB-GV and DETEC give their approval, it will be exciting to see how the local TV market in French-speaking Switzerland develops. We can then expect new impetus from both Edipresse and Hersant.
In addition, four instead of two marketers will be knocking down the doors of advertising clients in future - in addition to Hersant and Edipresse, Radiotele and, more recently, IP Multimedia. Alliances are therefore likely. The first of these could come as early as this week, when Radiotele and Edipresse discuss the launch of a RomandieNewsCombi, a counterpart to the Swiss-German TeleNewsCombi.
Small shareholders will tip the balanceCurrently, Léman Bleu (LB) has a share capital of CHF 1.8 million. The main shareholder is the cable network operator Naxoo (formerly Tele Genève) with 40 percent, the French Bianco family, which has been involved since the company was founded, holds 30.5 percent, the City of Geneva 12.5 percent, Edipresse (via Tribune de Genève) 2 percent and various small shareholders own a total of 15 percent. Important: The City of Geneva also holds a 50.1% stake in Naxoo.
The Board resolution now provides for a completely new shareholder structure for LB. In a first step, the pre-emptive right is to be abolished. Hersant and Stéphane Barbier-Müller will then each hold 15.25 percent of the shares.
Bianco shares and then, in a third step, acquire the
share capital to around CHF 3 million, so that Naxoo, Barbier and Hersant each receive around 30 percent, while the remainder is divided between the City of Geneva, Edipresse and the small shareholders.
Antoni Mayer, Director of Naxoo and Chairman of the Board of Directors of LB, must now push this plan through at the Annual General Meeting at the end of May. He believes that the chances of achieving the required three-quarters majority are good because Naxoo, which he represents alone, and the Bianco family support the resolution. That already makes 70.5 percent. For the remaining 4.5 percent, Mayer must convince either some small shareholders or the representative of the City of Geneva. However, the latter has reportedly voted against the plan in the BoD. "Theoretically, the matter is close," admits
Mayer, "but we already have a few friends of Léman Bleu among the small shareholders." (mk)
Competition Commission decision still pendingWhether Edipresse will be allowed to acquire a 35% stake in Vaud TV, the planned merger of the Vaud TV stations TVRL, Ici-TV and Canal Nord-Vaudois, is still open. The Competition Commission (ComCo) does not yet know whether it will investigate the project. However, it has requested a statement from Edipresse and has since received it, said Deputy Director Patrik Ducrey. The background to the possible investigation:
In 2002, Edipresse was only allowed to take over the Corbaz titles La Presse Nord-Vaudois and La Presse Riviera-Chablais (which have since been integrated into 24 Heures) because the Group was prepared to relinquish its Corbaz stake in Ici-TV. By acquiring a stake in Vaud TV, however, this waiver could possibly be circumvented. However, the imminent entry of Edipresse into TV marketing poses no problem for the Competition Commission. (mk)
Hand it out, take it: Who will prevail in the battle for pole position in the French-speaking Swiss TV market?
Markus Knöpfli
