Vivendi makes another move on the board where the game is played Tim: the French asked the authority U.S. antitrustand, in a letter, to examine the role carried out by Department of the Treasury Italian in the plan to acquire the network assets of the former telephone monopoly, reports Reuters.
In letter, which bears the date of 18 January and addressed to the EU Directorate-General for Competition, Vivendi invited the European Commission to provide "pay attention to the role and the involvement of Ministry of Economy in concentration. Despite the importance of the Treasury's involvement in the transaction for the Commission's competition assessment, Vivendi fears… that the notification could not disclosing it properly or minimize it,” the letter reads.
Tim agreed a November to sell its prized fixed network to the US fund KKR in a historic deal, worth up to 22 billion euros including earn-outs, which would lead to a reduction in Tim's debt and staff. The operation is supported by the Italian government, which authorized the Treasury to take a stake of up to 20% in the network company as part of an agreement with KKR.
The assist that could impact the case in court
A spokesperson for the French media company led by Arnaud de Puyfontaine e Yannick Bolloré, declined to comment on the letter, Reuters says, but reiterated that the company will appeal to all locations to assert their rights and their role as the largest shareholder. Vivendi has already contested the deal in a court Italian in December.
According to some observers, Vivendi's letter could be interpreted as a request for some sort of assistance from Brussels: if the answer was yes, in fact, the involvement of the Mef in the operation would be recognized by the EU and would therefore strengthen Vivendi's position in the lawsuit brought in Milan: the French in fact maintain that the board of directors' resolution relating to the sale of the network is illegitimate and then inapplicable why the Tim's board, led by Pietro Labriola, would not have considered the role of the Mef, the largest shareholder of Cdp, in turn a significant shareholder of Tim, deciding alone and without carrying out the operation step from Related Parties Committee.
If on the contrary the answer was negative the choice of the Tim board of directors to approve the sale of the network without passing through the Related Parties Committee would in fact be legitimized, which would therefore weaken at least part of Vivendi's legal position. Furthermore, the French have always maintained that an extraordinary meeting is also necessary as the sale of the network would, in their opinion, modify the corporate purpose, but Tim has repeatedly said that the arguments supported by Vivendi have already been analysed.
TIM expects to finalize the deal, with EU antitrust approval, by mid-year.
KKR intends to notify EU antitrust authorities by the end of January of its plans to buy Telecom Italia's network assets, sources told Reuters earlier this month.
