Tim: Vivendi’s forcing, the extraordinary board of directors and the scenarios
Facts, names and rumors about Tim
Redde rationem at the top of Tim?
This is what they are asking themselves in these hours in the palaces of politics and finance about the future of Tim's CEO, Luigi Gubitosi.
After the first ( unsuccessful ) attempt by Vivendi ( first shareholder of the former Telecom Italia) to de facto discourage the head of the company who was appointed when the American fund Elliott was the dominus of the tlc group, now the French would have done converge on their positions most of the members of the board of directors,
In fact, the president of Tim, Salvatore Rossi, has called a board of directors of the telephone group for Friday 26 November after eleven directors signed "a letter with harsh tones, in which there is talk of distrust and request" asking "urgently" for a board of directors extraordinary “to discuss governance and the state of execution of corporate accounts”, the newspaper Repubblica revealed today , while the company does not comment.
The letter to Rossi was signed by all the directors except the president himself, Gubitosi, the independent Paola Bonomi and the president of CDP, Giovanni Gorno Tempini. Evidently the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (controlled by the Ministry of Economy), Tim's shareholder with 9.81%, is waiting to first present the new industrial plan which will be illustrated on 25 November, the day before Tim's board of directors.
The meeting,writes Ansa , is in continuity with the extraordinary board of directors of last November 11, then convened at the request of the representatives of Vivendi, unhappy with the results of the management of the CEO, Luigi Gubitosi. On that occasion, the board of directors had "examined the difficult market context and the challenges facing the Company in terms of strategy, corporate performance and organization, also in view of the preparation of the 2022-2024 Strategic Plan" and had "defined the path" for its preparation, as reported in a note from the telephone group.
But what happened on November 11 on Tim's board of directors?
The company only stated – in a press release – that "no negotiations are underway relating to the network or other strategic assets". But he did not want to clarify whether or not this excludes the willingness to cede control of the infrastructure in order to get to the "single network" with Open Fiber, as per rumors, reported by international agencies, which had held the bench in the days preceding the meeting of the board.
A direction of travel that would be a reversal of the perspective announced so far and invoked by Tim's leaders, perhaps to fulfill the expectations of the new government on the basis of a Brussels approach.
From the release of Tim post board of directors of November 1, no comments also on the "holding-plan" – "possible group reorganization initiatives aimed at enhancing corporate assets and business", as stated in the press release issued after the previous board of October 27 – although the hypothesis was mentioned with the analysts in the last conference call of the top management of the former Telecom Italia for the quarterly report, with a sale of minority stakes in companies such as Noovle.
One of the group's growth engines are digital start-ups, said the number one of the tlc group, Gubitosi, on October 28: Noovle "is on track to reach 1 billion revenue target by 2024", Sparkle is growing double figure "and I expect it to reach 1 billion already in 2021" and Olvietti and Telsy are also growing in double figures, Gubitosi specified .
A direction which the French would not like at all, as much as the board of directors would not, and which is seen with little enthusiasm at the top of the CDP.
The rumors of a takeover of the American fund Kkr on Tim or the growth of the same fund in Fibercop would also have accelerated Vivendi's moves on Tim's governance.
But it all arises – also given the position of the independent directors and an expression of Assogestioni – from the performance of the company accounts, from the revision of profit estimates and from the scenarios shadowed by Gubitosi for the sale of further equity investments in companies with positive business prospects
(article being updated)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tim-il-forcing-di-vivendi-il-cda-straordinario-e-gli-scenari/ on Sat, 20 Nov 2021 10:33:40 +0000.