We need more information on the conversion of savings shares. With these words Arnaud de Puyfontaine, CEO of Vivendi and the largest shareholder of Telecom Italia with 20,53%, confirms in the meeting - underway in Rozzano - the French perplexities on the operation, announced with the decision to abstain at the time of the vote. It is not a no in principle but neither is it a yes to the concrete project on the table. Considering that Vivendi has 35,9% of the votes in the meeting (out of a 55,6438% of capital represented) the numbers seem to herald a rejection of the proposal put forward by the Board (for the conversion the green light is required from two thirds of those present) . Unless there are sensational twists or compensations on the front of the expansion of directors on the Board of Directors or that, again, an agreement on a more remunerative price cannot be found. The tug of war is underway and it is precisely on a relaunch that Piazza Affari seems to aim where i Telecom stocks they are all on the rise: the ordinary ones mark +4,04% to 1,131 euros but also the savings ones, after an initial disorientation, grow by 1,7% to 0,895 euros. A clear signal that the market considers the game unfinished and expects, if anything, an improvement in the conversion offer formulated by management (1 ordinary share for each savings share held, with payment of an adjustment of 9,5 euro cents for each action).
"As the number one shareholder of Telecom Italia" said de Puyfontaine "we need more information" on the conversion proposal. The decision to abstain from the vote was taken, he added, "because we would like more opportunities to discuss this operation. We would like to have information and the opportunity to learn more about the conversion”. “When I hear important topics that CEO Marco Patuano shares with us, such as the great potential of the industrial plan for Italy, the situation on Metroweb, the one in Tim Brasil, which is a significant topic, you can well imagine that in our position being part of the reflection and decision-making process is something that is normal”, continued the French manager in motivating the request of the French group to join the board with four representatives.
So it remains the tug of war with funds on the conversion of savings and on the expansion of the board of directors. "I have reason to believe that all the Italian and foreign funds here at the meeting, which together represent around 34% of the capital, are voting yes to the conversion" he said Dario Trevisan, as representative of savings shareholders. But that doesn't seem like enough to turn the tables on assembly. “You have created a complex situation – commented the representative of Asati, the association of small shareholders, Franco Lombardi – it is clear that the conversion of savings shares into ordinary shares will not pass today, but we are confident in Consob's work which we hope will continue”. Asati filed a complaint with Consob, after the November 5th board meeting which approved the conversion project, a board which, according to the association, was also attended by the advisor Equita.
Before de Puyfontaine, who confirmed Vivendi's industrial interest in Telecom, theAd Marco Patuano and the president Giuseppe Recchi. “With a single type of share, the capital structure is more transparent,” began the former. The cost of debt fell to 5,3% from 5,5%, underlined Patuano, confirming that Brazil, where Telecom is present with Tim Brasil, "remains 'core' for us as it is a large, young and in a reasonable time it will grow again”.
