Top ProSieben investor MFE 'sceptical' over strategy as shares slide

BERLIN/MILAN (Reuters) - MFE-MediaforEurope is growing "impatient" and "sceptical" over ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Bert Habets' strategy to revamp the company, a source close to the German TV group's leading investor said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, ProSieben said it would invest more in local content for its streaming platform Joyn and announced a write-off on programming assets.

Shares in the German-listed firm fell more than 6% on Wednesday. They have lost around a third of their value since the start of this year.

ProSieben declined to comment and referred to Habets' remarks on Tuesday, citing his confidence in the ability of the company to attract advertising customers. Habets has been in the role since November 2022.

MFE, the commercial broadcaster controlled by Italy's Berlusconi family, first invested in ProSieben in 2019 as part of its strategy to create a pan-European TV broadcaster.

It sees such a plan as a way to resist the increasing dominance of U.S. streaming giants such as Netflix, and to help offset the flight of advertising budgets to the likes of Facebook.

AUSTRIAN SCRUTINY

MFE's interest in ProSieben has been particularly closely scrutinised in Austria, where the German broadcaster also operates.

On Wednesday, Austrian competition regulator BWB said it would seek an in-depth review of MFE's stake, which the agency said would amount to de-facto control over the broadcaster.

MFE has a direct stake of 26.5% in the German peer and last month it told the Austrian regulator of plans to hold directly a further 2.29% stake it currently owns via derivatives.

BWB said on Wednesday it was assessing the effect of an increased MFE direct stake on media diversity in Austria and asked a cartel court to look into the case.

"It cannot be ruled out that...there will be adverse effects on ProSiebenSat.1 media activities in Austria, in particular the scope of Austrian specific content programming," the regulator said.

MFE declined to comment on the matter.

The notification was required because MFE would be in a position to control a majority of voting rights at ProSieben shareholder meetings, where turnout has been ranging between 53-56%, sources close to the matter had previously said.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Linda Pasquini and Elvira Pollina, Editing by Keith Weir)