“I have a contract that expires in May 2020 and it is my intention to respect it until the last day”. The press release issued on Tuesday from Flavio Cattaneo, CEO of Tim, he had arrived with the intention of restoring serenity on the title but this was not the case. Investors and small shareholders are watching with concern yet another clash at the top of the group, the first in Italy in terms of size and roots in telecommunications, a monopolist until the end of the 90s and still the owner of the last mile of the copper network, a strategic asset put under pressure by the government plan for ultra-broadband.
Cattaneo's considerations were short-lived. As soon as Tim's note, informally requested by Consob, was released, Vivendi's unofficial and irritated reply arrived, defining the position expressed by the CEO as "Unilateral" and the request to enforce the employment contract as "inadmissible". In the event of premature termination, the bill to pay for the French group would be very high, around 50 million, adding up bonuses, compensation up to the end of the mandate and liquidation. A source familiar with the situation, reported by Reuters, explained that the conflict with the Italian government over the ultra-broadband plan weighs above all on relations with the French. The declarations made on Tuesday morning “were not liked at all and the situation between Vivendi and Cattaneo is tense. From here to say that you come to a break, however, it is not that simple. Vivendi's goal is to reconnect with the government”.
How it will end and whether Consob will also ask the French for clarifications, will be seen in the next few hours or days. What is certain, for now, is that the tension remains high. So much so that there is talk of a reorganization that would lead to a sort of triumvirate: on the one hand the president Arnaud de Puyfontaine to represent the property, on the other the arrival of Amos Genish (current chief convergence officer of Vivendi) with the task of general manager and CEO powers but with the attribution of some powers in favor of the current vice president Giuseppe Recchi.
Il Telecom Italia title in Piazza Affari it is in the spotlight: after Tuesday's fall to 0,79 euros, at 10,49 on Wednesday it reached 0,802 euros with an increase of 1,7%. “The stock rises because the market speculates that there is a takeover bid risk on the ongoing dispute with the current CEO, Flavio Cattaneo. If this were the case, it should be done at Vivendi's carrying price of the shares”, says a trader - heard by Reuters - who is nonetheless skeptical of such an eventuality.
According to Il Messaggero on newsstands, Vivendi risks a takeover bid on Telecom if he were to replace the current CEO with another French manager after Tim's presidency was entrusted to de Puyfontaine because this, writes the newspaper, would sanction de facto control of the company regardless of the share ownership threshold (23,9%) below the maximum limit of 25%. This hypothesis, which however contrasts with the Consolidated Law on Finance, according to which the only relevant element for the purposes of the takeover bid obligation is exceeding the threshold set at 25% of the capital for contestable companies, i.e. those of a certain size without of a shareholder holding a stake of more than 25%. No indications for a different interpretation emerge from Consob at the moment.
