But when did Vivendi's “management and coordination activity” start on Tim? Ever since the French group made it official that it owns 23,9% of the capital, since it acquired the majority in the Board of Directors (May 4, 2017) or since, on July 27, the Board "acknowledged" that the management of Had Tim become French with the divorce from CEO Flavio Cattaneo? Consob wants clarity on the issue: it has made it clear on several occasions both informally and with an inspection activity culminating in the inspection of the Tim offices in Milan and Rome. The official response from Vivendi arrived, addressed to the market and to Consob, in the early afternoon of Friday 4 August, through a statement released by Tim itself: the French guide took place "in the face of two specific circumstances“, says the note from the national TLC group.
The first lies in the "plan to strengthen the company's management team with the entry into TIM of a top manager from the Vivendi group, with the aim, among other things, of realizing, in the context of the current strategic plan, a greater coordination between the industrial and commercial activities of the various companies". And the reference is to the arrival of Amos Genish appointed chief operating officer for convergence in late July. The second circumstance concerns "the JV project between TIM and Canal plus Group, as an equally indicative element of the desire to initiate, again in the context of the current strategic plan, a form of coordination between the two corporate groups in the multimedia sector" .
The Board of Directors of 27 July 2017 acknowledged the start of the management and coordination activity and “did not deal with the profile of the existence or otherwise of control pursuant to art. 2359 code civ. by Vivendi on TIM”.
Vivendi essentially denies that the disagreements with Cattaneo were attributable to differences on the point of control and on the strategies to be adopted on the creation of the broadband network in contrast with Open Fiber and with the approach of the Italian government. In fact, Tim's new press release limits itself to specifying that the termination of the relationship with CEO Flavio Cattaneo was consensual and "the related conditions have matured in the context of a dialogue regarding the possible evolution of the top management organization of the same - reporting to the Chief Executive Officer – in view of the forthcoming challenges that will have to be faced, a dialogue that highlighted non-converging positions, and taking into account the achievement by the Chief Executive Officer of the planned objectives”.
Compared to the sensational severance pay of 25 million agreed with the manager, it falls "in the physiological negotiation and settlement dynamics of the agreement, in the face of a reduction in the amount due and the non-acknowledgment of any severance, the disbursement of the agreed sum was agreed for cash and without time delays or ex post correction mechanisms". No additions or potential increases will therefore be granted by Tim.
Tensions remain high over the whole affair, also in light of the more difficult relations between Italy and France after the about-face of President Emmanuel Macron on the agreement between Fincantieri and the Stx shipyards. Development Minister Carlo Calenda asked Palazzo Chigi to evaluate the exercise of special rights on Tim (golden power). And the issue of the unbundling of the Telecom network has become topical again, a topic on which even the Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has expressed interest.
