Diego Della Valle, the chairman
of shoemaker Tod's, said Wednesday that he did not intend to
sell his shares in RCS, the publisher of top Italian
dailies Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport. Earlier
this month media businessman Urbano Cairo announced he was
making a bid to take a controlling stake in RCS, via an offer to
exchange shares in his Cairo Communications company. "We are
buyers, not sellers, of RCS shares," said Della Valle, who has a
stake over over 7% in the publisher. Cairo, the owner of the La7
TV station and Torino soccer club, said he wants to make RCS a
profitable part of a multi-faceted media group. He has offered
to a swap 0.12 of a share in Cairo Communication for each RCS
share to take his stake over the 50% mark. Della Valle said he
is not tempted. "Cairo is a friend. He was right to have a go,
that's his job, so I don't consider it a hostile operation," he
said, adding that he was backing the current RCS board. "I
gather than the value of the operation is not adequate, but I'm
not interested because I don't have to sell my shares".
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