PRESS RELEASE

DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY LAUNCHES AN INVESTIGATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JOINT VENTURE CREATED BY THE FELTRINELLI AND MESSAGGERIE GROUPS

The Antitrust Authority has launched an investigation into the joint company created by the Feltrinelli and Messaggerie groups to verify the eventual creation or strengthening of a dominant position in the market for the distribution of books.

The transaction in question will determine the union of the two main operators offering their distribution services to publishers and libraries that do not form part of vertically integrated publishing groups. All this can lead, according to the Italian Competition Authority, to a worsening of the economic conditions offered by the new operator, resulting from the joint venture. The presence of the Messaggerie and Feltrinelli Groups in the upstream markets (publishing market of books) and downstream (market of retail of books, by the libraries and online) in respect to the intermediary where the new company works also requires the verification of the possible unilateral effects which exclude all the other operators.

The investigation will be concluded within 45 days with effect from 22 October 2014.

Rome, 24 October 2014