AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLISHING PRODUCTS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY OKS ACQUISITION OF JOINT CONTROL OF GE-DIS BY M-DIS AND SSL

Upon completion of the investigation launched on 09^th January 2013.

In a meeting on 20^th February 2013, the Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato decided to give the green light to the acquisition of joint control of GE-DIS (active in the local distribution of publishing and other products in the Genoa area) by M-DIS (a subsidiary of De Agostini and RCS Mediagroup) and SSL (Società Stampa Liguria), which will hand over to GE-DIS its publishing product distribution business in the same area.

Upon completion of the investigation, which was launched on 09^th January 2013, the Antitrust Authority decreed that the operation does not have the potential to bring about an increase in market power on the part of the new entity, in the light of four aspects:

1)  The two enterprises participating in the operation already benefit from exclusivity at the retailers that they supply as a result of the various titles offered.

2)  The existence of regulatory obligations incumbent on national and local distributors makes it impossible for the parties concerned to influence competition-related variables such as prices and choice of products distributed through which market power is normally exercised.

3)  The new entity will be owned by a non-vertically-integrated entity (SSL) which will be responsible for the operational and commercial management of the entity.

4)  The new entity’s revenues from its M-DIS partners (De Agostini and RCS Mediagroup) constitute a negligible percentage of the total. For both of these reasons, it is unlikely that GEDIS, a vertically-integrated entity, will give up the lion’s share of its own revenues to benefit its partners by excluding other publishers from its own activity.

Rome, 11^th March 2013