The match between Telecom Italia and the Elliott Fund gets underway. The US fund has in fact asked the Italian telecommunications company to include the revocation of the 24 directors representing Vivendi and the simultaneous appointment of six new directors from his indications on the agenda of the shareholders' meeting of 6 April. Furthermore, it has reserved the right to insert further changes in the assembly (perhaps a new CEO?).
Tim communicates it with a note in which he specifies "that he has received from the shareholders Elliott International LP, Elliott Associates LP and The Liverpool Limited Partnership a request to integrate the agenda of the ordinary shareholders' meeting of the Company, already called for the day 24 April 2018, by inserting the following two topics:
- Revocation of 6 Directors in the persons of Messrs. Arnaud Roy de Puyfontaine, Hervé Philippe, Frédéric Crépin, Giuseppe Recchi, Félicité Herzog and Anna Jones
- Appointment of 6 Directors in the persons of Fulvio Conti, Massimo Ferrari, Paola Giannotti De Ponti, Luigi Gubitosi, Dante Roscini and Rocco Sabelli, to replace those revoked pursuant to the previous item on the agenda"
Thus confirmed the rumors published by various newspapers today that accredit, in fact, the changing of the guard. A board of directors will be convened shortly to insert Elliott's request, the company's note continues.
The situation is therefore in full swing and the advances from Paris, and reported by the Corriere della Sera, indicate that Vivendi would be willing to take a step back on the board. Arnaud de Puyfontaine, in essence, could leave the operating powers if Tim's shareholders ask for short-term policies to support the stock which on Thursday at 11:34 leads the increases in Piazza Affari with a +2,34% at 0,8 euro . Vivendi confirms its support for the CEO Amos Genish's plan based on a vision of growth in the medium and long term but also informs that "as a shareholder sensitive to the valuation of its investments, Vivendi would also like, if necessary, to support another strategy which could increase the price of Tim shares in the short term”.
The Elliott fund, as FIRSTonline wrote on Wednesday, rests its strategy on four pillars.
Meanwhile, the game is still open on the CEO of Telecom Italia that the American fund Elliott would designate, in the event of his victory in the shareholders' meeting on April 24th. The current managing director Amos Genish, according to financial sources consulted by Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor, would not intend to stay in the event that the meeting changes and the current reference shareholder Vivendi goes down. The first item on the agenda of the meeting includes the appointment of Genish as a director: in fact, the current CEO has been co-opted to the board of directors and the appointment by the shareholders is required. Therefore, his name does not appear in the list of directors to be revoked presented by Elliott in the integration to the agenda of the meeting. Elliott's position on Genish, currently, according to what other sources say, is not a priori against it. In fact, the criticisms of the fund are not directed at the management but at the general management of Telecom Italia which, according to the fund, has not been adequately valued. Meanwhile, among the names circulated as a possible CEO designated by the fund, there is also that of Paolo Dal Pino, former CEO of Pirelli Industrial. By 20 March, 40 days before the meeting, the fund will in any case be able to integrate the agenda of the meeting with other requests and proposals, according to the provisions of the TUF.
