Another day of fire for Telecom Italy. This afternoon the board of directors of the former telecommunications incumbent will meet to deliberate on the request for Vivendi, with a 20% stake, to expand the board from 13 to 17 members to make room for 4 of its representatives.
But yesterday Assogestioni, on behalf of the committee of managers and foreign investors, sent a peremptory letter to the top management of the company which states, among other things, that "Vivendi's request to nominate four candidates (three of whom with executive positions within the their group) indicated as future directors, raises some critical issues with reference to the new governance arrangements".
In particular, the funds dispute that Vivendi will end up "with an even greater influence than that deriving from the percentage of Telecom Italia's share capital in its possession, without having launched a takeover bid". Nor does it seem appropriate for the managers "to release the three candidates who carry out the functions of CEO, CFO and Chief Operating Officer in Vivendi, which operates in the same sector as Telecom Italia, from the prohibition on competition".
Yesterday, Telecom Italia shares closed up 0,78%.
