Sometimes they come back. The biggest surprise of the list of candidates for the new Telecom Italia board of directors, which Vivendi (the telephone company's main shareholder) filed yesterday evening in view of the May 4 shareholders' meeting, is the presence as an independent of a top manager of the caliber by Franco Bernabè, former president and CEO of Telecom in two previous experiences.
For Bernabè, who is now the independent chairman of ICBPI, it will be the third time at the top of Telecom and it remains to be understood exactly what role he will play because the French, who proposed it, have not discovered their cards for the presidency, where Giuseppe Recchi has been strongly questioned.
In Vivendi's list, which will compete with that of Assogestioni, the first candidate is Arnaud de Puyfontaine, current CEO of the French group, but there are also other French managers, Recchi himself and the CEO Flavio Cattaneo, who is destined to be reappointed , in addition to Bernabè.
Initially Vivendi seemed inclined to nominate de Puyfontaine for the presidency but the recent warning from Consob, which argued that a French presidency in Telecom would not go unnoticed for the purpose of determining control of the group and could have repercussions on the battle between Vivendi and Fininvest in Mediaset, it has led the transalpine group led by Vincent Bollorè to caution, which could opt for an independent presidency.
The games will still be played in the board of directors which will meet after the Telecom Italia meeting but Franco Bernabè's candidacy is certainly not accidental
