Thursday, 27 August 2009 at 11:54
Promotora de Informaciones SA, Spain’s largest media company, is considering trading on the Nasdaq to gain access to more foreign investors, said Chief Executive Officer Juan Luis Cebrian.
“This is where the investors are,” Cebrian told reporters yesterday in New York, where he announced the creation of a joint venture to distribute media content in supermarkets. “Trading on Nasdaq is something that would fit with Prisa’s business model of becoming a media technology company.”
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. is the second-largest operator of U.S. stock markets, handling trading for technology companies such as Intel Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. Cebrian wouldn’t say when Prisa may start trading on the Nasdaq market.
Prisa plans to create a joint venture with Salt Lake City- based In-Store Broadcasting Network LLC to put programming and advertising in supermarkets in Spain and Latin America. IBN’s financial arm will buy a stake of at least 4.5 per cent in Prisa.
Prisa, the publisher of the El Pais newspaper, is seeking new ways to generate growth as increased competition from Web publications and a shrinking advertising market erode sales. Spain is experiencing its worst recession in 60 years.
The Madrid-based company is selling minority stakes in the publishing unit Santillana and its Portuguese division Grupo Media Capital SGPS SA in a bid to reduce its debt of about 5 billion euros ($7.1 bn).
“The negotiations are very advanced and we could see an agreement within the next few weeks or months,” Cebrian said.
Prisa climbed as much as 5.2 per cent to 4.44 euros and traded at 4.43 euros in Madrid at 9:32 a.m. local time.
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