It's official: Vivendi rises to 19,88% of Telecom Italia's capital. The data emerges from the communications sent to the Sec, the American Consob, in the 13D/A form. The French group chaired by Vincent Bolloré now has 2,68 billion shares in its pocket. Previously Vivendi's stake in Telecom was 15,5%.
"If they increase their stake, that's always good", Marco Patuano, CEO of Telecom, had recently said, but claimed that he was not aware of the plans to strengthen the shareholding structure: "With Vivendi's management - he added - I discuss issues much more related to operations”.
On the occasion of the Ambrosetti Forum, the CEO of Vivendi Arnaud de Puyfontaine reiterated that the French group will be a long-term investor: "We believe that this alliance between a telco and a content company has great prospects of creating a fantastic story together . We are very busy with Italy, now all we have to do is write this story”. At the time, the issue of the entry of French representatives into the board of directors was defined as "premature". Now it may not be anymore.
