Franco Bassanini and Elisabetta Ripa are preparing to confirm the leadership of Open Fiber, the company jointly controlled by Enel and Cassa depositi e prestiti (Cdp) which has the mission of bringing fiber to new generation telecommunications throughout the country.
Contrary to some rumors, which turned out to be completely unfounded, in the next few hours the two shareholders will present the list of candidates for the next board, which will be up to the corporate meeting scheduled for Thursday 18 April to approve. In this list, the candidacies of Bassanini and Ripa are sealed: Bassanini will remain as president of Open Fiber for another three years and Elisabetta Ripa will be confirmed in the role of managing director.
The discussions between the two shareholders on the advisability of tightening the construction of the single fiber network between Open Fiber and Tim (where Cdp has a shareholding of almost 10% and acts as the balance between Vivendi and the Elliott fund) or of favoring the path of commercial agreements had led to think in recent weeks that an adjustment of the top management could be achieved. But that will not be the case, because Enel has squared off on Ripa's candidacy, despite its preference for commercial agreements rather than for the single network advocated by the Cassa, and the CDP has not exercised any right of veto.
Conclusion: much ado about nothing. Bassanini, who has always been a supporter of the single network, will remain firmly in the presidency of Open Fiber and Ripa, who coming from Tim's ranks knows the leading Italian telephone company well, will be confirmed as CEO.
