Amber Capital, led by Joseph Oughourlian, removes the former Indra from the position of maximum responsibility. The operator led by Josà © MarÃa à ?? lvarez-Pallete supports the replacement in the El PaÃs y la Ser group.
Amber Capital, Prisa’s largest shareholder, has managed to dismiss Javier Monzón as president of this group that controls media brands such as El PaÃs or Cadena Ser. In this replacement of the greatest figure at the top of the company, Amber has counted with the support of Telefónica, according to sources from these companies consulted by EL MUNDO.
“We can’t keep trusting“, said the fund led by Joseph Oughourlian, which controls 29.8% of the shares, regarding Monzón, from which” he would have preferred to voluntarily withdraw. “However, the former president of Indra has remained in the position and has defended that any decision must be taken within the company’s board, beyond the particular wishes of the largest shareholder, expressed at the meeting held this Friday. Oughourlian, French of Armenian origin, is currently vice president and could take over in the absence of Monsoon or a replacement to be known today.
Thus, a board of directors is summoned so that Prisa can face the replacement this afternoon underpinned by Amber Capital, as Monzón itself has announced in this telematic meeting. Telefónica, which owns 9.44% of the shares, has supported the move, as this newspaper has learned: to the understanding of the great Spanish operator, the presence of Monzón in Prisa only depreciates the value of the company. In reality, Telefónica’s position is the one shared by the majority of shareholders: a successor must be found, but the solution must be professional, not political.
Until now, the current president has mainly had the backing of Santander, the company’s shareholder with 4.1% but a much greater influence on Prisa given the bank financing needs. The financial institution is aware that Monzón is considered by Amber a man of transition who does not fit in with the objectives of dividing the education business and the media business (something that Monzón denies), so she has already been contemplating an exit for the manager.
For this reason, the bank led by Ana BotÃn a priori positively valued Blas Herrero’s recent attempt to take over the group’s communication branch, given the possibility that Amber ends up prioritizing profitability over stability, and those editorial projects in the press and radio of great influence for Spain fall into little-known hands.
“The formalization of my dismissal must take place at the headquarters of the board of directors,” Monzón has claimed at the meeting, covered by this newspaper in a telematic way, the only one possible due to the coronavirus. For the president until now, his departure from the group “has to be done in an orderly and rigorous manner”, whatever Amber Capital says.
“I have never been and I will never be a cause of division between shareholders or cause of conflict between them,” Monzón has said on two occasions, since he has had to repeat some of his impressions due to the technical problems that have occurred. delayed and blocked the meeting of this Friday, despite its great impact.
