Fininvest to sell pub wing
Publisher Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, part of Berlusconi's Fininvest empire, said the company would float some 53% of its capital.
In addition, Mondadori will buy the publishing assets of its parent, Silvio Berlusconi Editore.
The refloating of Mondadori, which prints some of Italy's most popular news and show business magazines, will involve a share issue that should raise up to $ 600 million to help cut the parent company's debt. Fininvest has debts of more than $ 2 billion.
Separately, Italy's Prime Minister Carlo Azeglio Ciampi resigned Saturday in a step on the road to a new government expected to be led by Berlusconi.
Ciampi handed in his resignation after a cliffhanger vote in Italy's new parliament gave the speakers' posts in both houses to members of the media magnate's triumphant Freedom Alliance.
The election of the speakers and Ciampi's resignation were the first formal steps in a constitutional process that will allow President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to name a prime minister-designate.
Berlusconi, who has been in politics just three months, is widely expected to be offered the job of forming Italy's 53rd government since World War II.
Asked if an administration would be in place by April 25, Berlusconi replied: "It will take a lot longer than that."
Umberto Bossi, leader of the federalist Northern League, said talks with Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and the neo-fascist National Alliance on forming a government would begin Tuesday.
