The wealth of the former Prime Minister of Italy is impressive with assets beyond the country’s borders
Television, football, publishing, a substantial fortune, glamorous villas, three planes and a helicopter. Even if the golden age of Mediaset TV is long gone, Silvio Berlusconi’s economic empire remains formidable with assets beyond Italy’s borders that are hard to trace, the Telegraph reports.
Fininvest company
The Fininvest holding, which owns a large part of Berlusconi’s assets, was founded before 1978. Silvio Berlusconi has always placed Fininvest at the center of his financial and entrepreneurial initiatives.
Today, he is the owner of the controlling block of shares in three companies listed on the stock exchange worth 2.8 billion euros.
With the ambition to become a European media group, Mediaset moved its headquarters to Amsterdam and renamed Mfe-MediaForEurope, acquiring 29% of the German broadcaster ProSiebenSat and including in its portfolio Mediaset España, which was previously listed in Madrid.
Fininvest controls almost 48% of the company, a stake that at stock prices is worth 712 million (the stock has been rising for two days on speculative expectations and on April 7 gained another 2.9 percent).
It may seem like a paradox, but in financial terms, Fininvest’s most valuable share is 30% in Mediolanum Bank, which was managed by shareholder Ennio Daris until his death in 2021. After that, the financial institution passed under the command of Berlusconi’s son – Massimo.
The minority stake in Fininvest is in the hands of the Doris family, which owns 41 percent of the holding.
In numerical terms, the share at current prices exceeds 1.8 billion, a value that reflects the strong market position of Mediolanum Bank, which manages customer savings of over 103 billion euros.
The third registered company under the umbrella of Fininvest is the Mondadori publishing house – a symbol of another phase in the development of Berlusconi’s financial empire, which today owns 50 publishing brands such as Einaudi and Rizzoli.
The holding retains a controlling stake in the publisher, holding 53 percent of it at a market value of 273 million euros.
The question of inheritance
Berlusconi’s five children now have a direct stake in Fininvest, but as founder, he has always held a controlling stake of 61.2%.
Eldest daughter Marina and her brother Pierre Silvio each own 7.65% of Fininvest, while the children with Veronica Lario – Barbara, Eleonora and Luigi – together hold 21.42% of the Quattordicesima holding, of which each of the three has a third from the capital.
If Berlusconi decides to split his 61.2 percent equally among his five children, each of them will get another 12.24 percent.
Thus, Berlusconi’s three children from Veronica Lario – Barbara, Eleonora and Luigi will collect a share of more than 58% of Fininvest, while Marina and Pier Silvio will each have 19.9%, writes La Repubblica.
It is a curious fact that a year ago in the Italian media, a possible marriage of Silvio Berlusconi with his 33-year-old girlfriend Marta Fascina was loudly discussed. There has been speculation of a celebration where Martha popped out of a cake wearing a white dress.
If the rumors of a marriage between Silvio and Marta are confirmed, according to the law, she will inherit 30.6% of the capital of Fininvest, becoming the largest shareholder.
The remaining assets
In addition to the listed shares, Fininvest has a very large network of other investments. There are several real estate properties that partly fall under the umbrella of a sort of sub-holding called Fininvest Real Estate & Services.
This company owns Villa Gerneto, a luxury residence in the Brianza area, which, according to the 2021 financial statements, Berlusconi planned to expand by purchasing 178,000 square meters of agricultural land.
Villa Gerneto is now also known to Serie A fans, as the Monza team often rests there. Monza is Silvio Berlusconi’s second footballing passion after Milan, which he parted ways with in 2017 when he sold the team to Li Yonghong, a Chinese entrepreneur of uncertain fortune.
In addition to the villas and properties of Fininvest Real Estate & Services, the Fininvest holding also owns the company lba Servizi Aerotrasporti, the company that manages the fleet of corporate aircraft – an Agusta helicopter manufactured in 2006 and has three aircraft, two of which entered service before less than two years – the 2018 Gulfstream G550 and the Hawker 800 XP.
According to the latest available financial statements relating to 2021, Fininvest also owns shares in innovative companies – 6.8% in Soldo – a company specialized in the management of expense reports and company payments and 2% in Satispay, the application used by growing number of customers, used for payments with small amounts.
Another Fininvest holding of some interest is Trefinance, a Luxembourg company that has in the past been used to carry out some financial transactions, both in Italy and abroad.
Although it has been in voluntary liquidation since 2014, Trefinance has never been permanently closed. According to the latest report of 2021, Trefinance has a capital of almost 35 million euros. According to rough calculations, Berlusconi’s real estate business is worth about 3.1 billion euros.
This is not all!
Berlusconi has retained other properties outside the parent company, held through the real estate holding company Dolcedrago, to which only Marina and Pier Silvio can claim any rights.
In fact, 99.5% of the company belongs directly to the father, while a portion of 0.25% is reserved for the two of them. Dolcedrago’s most valuable assets are in a Dolcedrago subsidiary called Immobiliare Idra.
Berlusconi also owns several family homes, including Villa Certosa on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda. According to rough calculations, the properties owned by the former prime minister amount to 3.5 billion. According to an analysis by the American magazine Forbes, this amount is double…
Follow the latest news with BLITZ and on Telegram. Join the channel here
