Tim, the new stage – not at all obvious – in the tug of war between Vivendi and the Elliott hedge fund. Next Thursday, March 29, a board of directors is convened which should have dealt with the report on remuneration in view of the meeting on April 24. This has long been convened with all'agenda a rich program: the first point is the appointment of a director (Amos Genish, Tim's current CEO) and then the approval of the 2017 financial statements, the incentives for managers and for the appointment of the board of statutory auditors. However, as is known, in the meantime the Elliott Fund has launched its advance and requested that the Agenda be integrated with the dismissal of 6 board members appointment of Vivendi and the replacement with 6 other directors proposed by him. Vivendi's response came a few days later with the mass resignations of 7 directors appointed by him plus that of Giuseppe Recchi - the first effective from 24 April, the second immediate from 22 March - with which the entire board of directors . Furthermore, the French controlling shareholder took time by postponing the assembly on the renewal of the Board of Directors to May 4th. The new agenda reports the full appointment of the board of directors with list voting and the related remuneration.
The game, already rather intricate in itself, incorporates at this point a further unknown factor, namely that of fate of the Ad Amos Genish. Arrived to replace Flavio Cattaneo - removed from Vivendi after just a year and with a generous severance pay - Genish should have remained until the natural forfeiture of the Board, that is, until the approval of the 2019 financial statements. Now, however, the Board has lapsed, so what could happen ?
Meanwhile, it must be said that the request to convene the board on Thursday would have come under pressure from the Board of Statutory Auditors. Thus, the request for integration made by the Elliott Fund could come back on the table and the board of statutory auditors could take charge of accepting the request of the American shareholder. If this were the case, we would arrive at the assembly on May 4 with the representatives of the Fund already included in the board of directors. And what will Genish do? For now, the CEO is keeping a balance between the two litigants. However, his entry into the Board could still be put to a vote on Thursday. It is then up to him to decide, on the basis of the balance within the board, which position to keep.
The battle, therefore, goes on, and the decisive choices are approaching. In all of this, Asati's small shareholders sided with Elliott and invited Assogestioni and the funds that invested in Tim to present a common list in an anti-Vivendi key. The deadline for submitting names is April 9. Time is running out.
UPDATE 17.54
The Elliot fund has filed a complaint with Consob on the resignation of the directors of Telecom Italia linked to Vivendi which caused the forfeiture of the group's board of directors. At the same time, as reported by Radiocor, also Asati - the association of small shareholders of Telecom Italia - would have decided to take the same path.
Elliott, currently in possession of more than 5% of the Italian TLC company, is therefore officially reacting to the French move, after the heavy verbal censure pronounced in recent days.
In the meantime, according to what Radiocor reports, Amos Genish met today, 27 March, with the Minister of Economic Development, Carlo Calenda at the Ministry headquarters. During the meeting, the CEO reportedly took stock with the minister on the progress made in the network separation process announced by the company and then approved by the board of directors. Shortly after, Tim notified Agcom of the voluntary separation plan for the fixed access network through the creation of a separate legal entity.
LAST UPDATE
New twist: Tim's board of auditors made it official that it had decided to integrate the agenda of the meeting of April 24, including the appointment of 6 directors as requested by the Elliott Fund among the topics to be submitted to the vote of the shareholders. It's about Fulvio Conti, Massimo Ferrari, Paola Giannotti De Ponti, Luigi Gubitosi, Dante Roscini and Rocco Sabelli.
The move by the board of statutory auditors, decided unanimously, protects the interests of minor shareholders - as opposed to those of the controlling shareholder Vivendi - and will allow the American fund to enter the board of directors, if the vote in the meeting is in favor of the proposal, with a fifteen days in advance of the second meeting scheduled for May 4, which will have to decide on the entire renewal of the board of directors and on the presence or absence of Amos Genish as managing director.
