Joseph Recchi president, for the first time, voted directly by the crowded shareholders' meeting: 56% of the capital. Vito Gamberale out of the board, presented by Marco Fossati's Findim. Telco, a relative majority shareholder, has to be satisfied with the three directors assigned to the minority list, because they have the most votes.
The Telecom Assembly it ends with a twist: the list presented by the Funds Committee resulted in the most votes (50,28%) and allowed all its candidates to enter. The 3 directors assigned to minorities are assigned to Telco.
Thus ended the assembly marathon of Rozzano, which sanctioned the birth of Telecom Italia public company, as wanted by Mark Fossatidefeated on paper but, in a certain sense, the moral winner of the game. From today, Telecom Italia counts on a president vested with his powers by the assembly and not by Telco alone, while the board is firmly supervised by the independents.
This is the main result that emerged after eleven hours of debate, very different in tone from the tug of war of the December meeting, when Telco avoided a sensational defeat by a handful of votes.
On the contrary, yesterday the assembly was dominated by fair play, including the approval of the accounts. Telecom shareholders approved the budget with a Bulgarian majority: 98,05% of votes in favour. 1,45% of those present were against the vote while 0,5% of those present abstained. The shareholders also approved the dividend for savings shares (98,4% in favour), the remuneration (84,8% in favour), the board of directors reduced to 13 members (85,9%), the three-year mandate (99,14% ), the total remuneration of the board at 1,9 million euros per year (88,61%).
The only controversial note was given away the farewell speech of Luigi Zingales, I can no longer be re-elected with the same qualification. "Bernabè's severance pay cries out for revenge - he declares from the stage - even the converting gave problems but all in all I'm leaving a better Telecom than when I arrived 7 years ago".
In reverse Mark Fossati has taken on the tones of the dove since the first intervention. “This is a new era and conflicts and rifts do not lead to a revival – she said – I will support the president who will be voted for by the majority of the shareholders. On the other hand, I did not share the old governance where the president was the expression only of a shareholder and not of everyone. From today there is new life, the board of directors has a greater responsibility because the market expects more”. But Fossati warns that "should new conflicts of interest emerge, we will return to request the revocation of the council".
L'ad Marco Patuano he collects trust and, with regards to the future of Tim Brazil, he reaffirms the strategic value of a "country that represents about a third of our revenues", recalling however that Telecom will still have to make many investments in the Carioca country to support growth.
For the rest, here is a summary of his answers to the shareholders:
TOWERS IN BRAZIL. The sale of the towers that Telecom has in the pipeline is explained as follows: "It seems, from the talks that are being made, that this process is being done by companies with water at their throats: At&T, Vodafone, all the competitors in Brazil have done it, it's called capital reallocation invested". "If I use it to repay the debt, I can compare it with the cost of a bond and it wouldn't be a good investment, in reality these operations are made to invest in frequencies in Brazil and in fiber and LTE in Italy".
RELATIONS WITH THE CDP. ”There have been various moments of dialogue with the CDP but so far not much has come of it because we started from the mistaken conviction of separating the network. Clarified that the Net does not separate… perhaps there will be other methods but we have not yet explored them”.
DROP IN TURNOVER. ”Quality is increasingly the fundamental element for directing consumer choices and for strengthening a distinctive positioning capable of distancing us from the risks of pure price competition: the lowest rates – he concludes – we leave to other competitors who are not in a position to able to follow us". BUT. “I don't rule out strengthening operations on the reference markets a priori through extraordinary operations, but at the moment there is no discussion”.
THE RATING. ”If we had tried to artificially defend the rating instead of putting our heads down to work it would have been a mistake… I am absolutely not satisfied to be leading a company with junk judgment but I guarantee you we will do everything possible to return to investment grade as soon as possible ”.
OLIVETTI, DRAW IN 2015. ”We have developed a plan which envisages that Olivetti will break even again in the next two years. Our goal is to have Olivetti break even by the end of 2015. It's a decent effort. Obviously we want to get out of the mechanical part and focus much more on the platform part".
TO STEFANO MAZZITELLI (EX TI-SPARKLE ACQUITTED TOGETHER WITH SILVIO SCAGLIA FOR THE TELEPHONE VAT INVESTIGATION). ””When all the deeds are deposited, justice will be done to your honor”. CEO Marco Patuano said so in the meeting addressing Stefano Mazzitelli, former CEO of Telecom Italia Sparkle accused of fraud and conspiracy to commit crimes, who had had to resign and was then fully acquitted because the fact did not constitute a crime. Mazzitelli intervened recalling the stages of the legal case and pointed the finger at the company and the board of directors.
