Polanco reaffirms PRISA's commitment to the defense of freedom and democracy

"The success of the capital increase illustrates the commitment of our shareholders to the future of our Group", said the Group’s Chairman

PRISA Chairman Manuel Polanco, reaffirmed, during the General Shareholders' Meeting held in Madrid, what he defined as the Group's principles and mission: "to foster social progress, to consolidate a freer and more democratic, and a fairer and more balanced society.”

“In this complex world, both from the social and political point of view, the existence and strength of a company with the values ​​that PRISA stands for and represents is especially vital,” he explained.

“At a time in which phenomena such as populism and post-truth seem to prevail, where our personal profiles are used on social networks to manipulate our opinions, to spread fake news, and to interfere, ultimately in the democratic process, PRISA endeavors to safeguard and champion one of its basic principles: societies and citizens are freer when they are better educated and informed," said Polanco.

“If we add the scourge of corruption that is rampant in the countries in which we are present then the work of a professional and serious media sector is more crucial than ever, in its role as counterpower, as guarantor of social balance, as champion of freedom and, in short, of democratic principles.”

The Chairman of PRISA added that “our media have always played this role. We have always maintained and defended a line in accordance with our founding principles, even at the most complicated and riskiest times, and as we now also do with regard to the events surrounding the secessionist efforts in Catalonia. I can assure you that we will continue to do so. The defense of truth and media independence has been, is and always will be the distinguishing feature and the priority of all PRISA media.”

In his first speech to the Shareholders' Meeting as Chairman of the Group, he explained that he had served as a member of its board for 17 years, “which makes me the longest-serving of the current directors. Over the years I have listened to the words of my father, Jesús de Polanco, the founder of this Group. Then to his successor, my brother Ignacio. And more recently, my predecessor in this office, Juan Luis Cebrián. The personality, drive and courage of all three built a leading business group in the fields of education and news in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world, and made it the gold standard for many generations of Spaniards and Latin Americans,” he said.

Manuel Polanco explained that “we honor this legacy and we forge ahead with the clear goal of introducing the innovation and transformation necessary to take on the challenges facing society in the 21st century, without losing sight of the values ​​that we have always championed. But to achieve this goal we must be wary of taking false steps, we must not be prevented from making the right decisions due to financial pressures. That’s why it was so essential that we rebalanced our finances. This has been made possible thanks to the recent capital increase, the debt refinancing agreement and the asset sale program that we have been following for some time now.”

The Chair of the Group reviewed the operations undertaken in recent months, especially the capital increase of 563 million euros. “The success of the capital increase illustrates the commitment of our shareholders to the future of our Group. It is important to highlight the strong support for the operation from among the majority shareholders who were already part of the company's capital. The incorporation of new investors to ensure the full subscription of the capital increase was also crucial. I’d like to take this opportunity thank everyone for their trust,” he said.

He also went over the latest changes to affect the board of directors and announced that “in line with the idea of ​​rationalizing corporate governance, we are proposing today the reduction of the board from 17 to 13 members. This reorganization will lead to a recomposition of the Board's committees, both in their number (we’d reduce them from 5 to 3) as well affecting their members.”