MILAN, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Italian media group GEDI has entered into exclusive talks with regional publisher Gruppo SAE to sell the Italian newspaper La Stampa, it said on Tuesday.
Last month GEDI, owned by Agnelli family holding company EXOR, sparked concerns within the Italian government when it announced it was in talks with Greek media company Antenna to sell its Italian news operations, which also include newspaper la Repubblica and a portfolio of radio broadcasters operating in Italy.
Alberto Barachini, the undersecretary in charge of information and publishing, said on Tuesday that "GEDI's decision to favour the Gruppo SAE's offer appears to be linked to a proposal by the potential buyer to pursue a concrete and ambitious development plan. SAE should commit to protecting assets and provide employment guarantees."
Any sale would fall under Italy's "golden power" legislation, which allows the government to block or impose conditions on transactions affecting strategic assets but cannot be used to protect jobs.
GEDI reported sales of 224 million euros ($263 million) last year, when it posted a 15 million euro loss. The business is worth 0.3% of EXOR's net asset value, or 118 million euros, according to Italian broker Intermonte.
"Talks involve the newspaper La Stampa, including related assets and printing activities", GEDI said in a statement.
Based in Turin, La Stampa is one of Italy's oldest and most prominent national newspapers. It is Italy's sixth-largest daily, with slightly fewer than 70,000 copies sold a month, according to the latest data from Prima Comunicazione. It has belonged to the Agnelli family since the 1920s.
SAE
Antenna, fully owned by K Group of the Kyriakou family and originally founded as a media company in Greece, was not interested in buying La Stampa, according to a source close to the matter.
($1 = 0.8522 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Keith Weir)
