Will Vivendi vote on Merlyn’s list with Siragusa in Tim?
The game of Tim's future comes to life with the presentation of the lists. All eyes on Vivendi's position. Here are facts, names, numbers, rumors and insights
Will Vivendi vote for the Merlyn list with Paolucci and Siragusa for Tim?
This is the question that has been exciting those involved in the Tim dossier in recent hours.
The promoters of the Merlyn list hope so, the list of the outgoing board of directors considers the scenario very unlikely and institutional sources favor the abstention of the French member of the former Telecom Italia. But at the moment Vivendi, Tim's largest shareholder with 23.75% , has not decided what it will do at the meeting scheduled for April 23rd .
Here are facts, names, numbers, rumors and in-depth analysis after the presentation of the lists of the Merlyn fund and the Bluebell fund.
THE LIST WITH PAOLUCCI AND SIRAGUSA FOR TIM
In view of the meeting, yesterday the Merlyn fund revealed its list for the renewal of the Tim group's board of directors. The former Microsoft manager Umberto Paolucci is indicated as president in the list for the renewal of the board of directors of the former Telecom Italia, presented late yesterday evening by the Merlyn Partners fund. The fund, which holds 0.53% of the capital, nominates Stefano Siragusa (in the photo) for the position of CEO.
THE TVALUE PLAN
Furthermore, last week TValue presented the project for Tim hypothesizing the sale of Tim Brazil and ConsumerCo to focus on TechCo, i.e. the technological assets of the cloud, cybersecurity and IoT. In short, it will remain TechCo, the new Tim after the sale of NetCo, Tim Brasil and Tim Consumer, a company listed on the stock exchange and will be renamed Telecom Italia.
The picture on the network dossier is not yet clear: the newspapers wrote that the approach would have changed compared to the initial position (on the sale to the KKR fund), while among the names on the list the idea leaks out that the project can be improved.
WHAT WILL VIVENDI DO?
What is certain is that Merlyn's list challenges that of the board of directors as the majority list . And what will Vivendi do? According to rumors collected by Startmag , the French group's position is as follows: it will wait for the presentation of all the lists and names and then decide who to vote for.
Certainly, given the legal conflict that has started on the internet , it cannot be ruled out that the French shareholder will be able to vote for the list presented by the outgoing board of directors. So will Vivendi vote for the list headed by Siragusa?
This is what the competing list hopes, or expects.
In institutional circles close to the government, the idea (or hope?) is leaking out that Vivendi will abstain.
THE MEMBERS OF THE TIM BOARD INDICATED BY MERLYN
But who are the names on the list that opposes that of the outgoing council? Already last October Merlyn had nominated Stefano Siragusa, former Tim manager, as the new leader of the group to challenge the current CEO Labriola. As already mentioned, the fund holds 81,250,000 ordinary shares of Tim, representing a percentage of the share capital with the right to vote in the ordinary meeting equal to 0.53%.
“We have a slate of candidates with international and industry expertise who can support and help the future management team execute the plan, while promoting better and more collaborative governance within the board,” the CEO said last week. bottom. Now Merlyn reveals the names on the list. The head of the list is Umberto Paolucci, indicated as president. They are followed by: Stefano Siragusa (former CEO of Tim), indicated as CEO, Ersilia Vaudo, Niccolò Ragnini, Ida Panetta, Ottavia Orlandoni, Boris Nemsic, Robert Hackl, Paul Doany and Barbara Oldani.
This is – explains a note from Merlyn – a shortlist of candidates made up of 4 women and 6 men, for a total of 9 independents, selected in such a way as to ensure the inclusion of high profile external candidates, with diversified experiences, who can contribute to the future development of society.
WHO IS UMBERTO PAOLUCCI (EX MICROSOFT)
The novelty is the strong name indicated for the presidency: the former top manager Umberto Paolucci, also known in the Roman palaces. Born in Ravenna in 1944, he graduated in Electrical Engineering in Bologna.
Paolucci has always been in the world of Information Technology, first with Hewlett Packard and subsequently, up to the position of General Director, with General Automation of Anaheim (California), and then in 1985 he founded the Italian branch of Microsoft as CEO and general manager” summarizes the website of the Rimini meeting. In 1998 he became Vice President of Microsoft Corporation and in February 2003 Senior Chairman of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa. Since June 29, 2006 he has been President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy. He was President of ENIT-National Tourism Agency.
STEFANO SIRAGUSA'S BIO (TAKEN FROM THE TIM WEBSITE )
In place of the current CEO Labriola, the Merlyn fund appoints Stefano Siragusa, born in 1976, graduated summa cum laude in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan with a specialization in Energy.
In 2000 he joined Siemens AG as product manager in the Automation and Drives Division. In 2002 he began his career at BCG (Boston Consulting Group) defining value creation strategies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and in particular in North America where, as BCG Global talent, he moved in 2005.
In 2014 he returned to Italy to be appointed CEO and general manager of Ansaldo STS.
Having completed the turnaround of Ansaldo STS and its transition from Leonardo to the Hitachi group, in 2016 Siragusa decided to join Bain&Company, a global consultancy firm, as a senior partner and director.
Since 2017 Siragusa has been a member of the Advisory Board of Lumsa University.
In 2016 he supported the IPO of Enav, the listed company that provides air traffic control services, as a member of the board of directors.
From 2015 to 2016 he was a member of the board of directors and member of the Governance Committee of Saipem.
Also from 2015 to 2016 Siragusa was also president of the board of directors of Metro 5 – New Milan Metro. In the same two-year period he also held the role of member of the Marangoni board of directors.
SIRAGUSA'S POSITIONS IN THE FORMER TELECOM ITALIA
In 2018 Stefano Siragusa joined the Tim group with the role of Chief Infrastructures Officer. In September 2021 he founded the company Rn Capital Partners,
At the end of 2021, Tim Labriola's CEO arranges that the Chief Technology & Operations Officer function will then merge into the new Chief Network, Operations & Wholesale Office function entrusted to Stefano Siragusa, who has thus assumed the role of Deputy of Tim's general director until It will be released in December 2022.
In these hours, to those in his entourage who ask him what his idea of Tim is, Siragusa sends a video which according to him is "the synecdoche of my thoughts"; video made years ago by Luca Josi with input from Siragusa himself.
SIRAGUSA'S REPORT ON THE NETWORK
In the Roman buildings there are also those who remember how in 2018 a plan for Tim's network (to be merged with that of Open Fiber into a single company) developed by Siragusa when he worked in the former Telecom Italia was appreciated by the former president of Cdp, Franco Bassanini, as can be seen from an article in the newspaper La Stampa of the time present on Bassanini's blog.
ERSILIA VADUO
In third position on the list presented by the Merlyn fund for Tim's board of directors is Ersilia Vaduo, astrophysicist and head of diversity for ESA , the European space agency. She joined ESA in 1991 and has held various positions, including in the field of strategy and international relations. He also served as coordinator of science and human spaceflight activities and had responsibility as executive secretary of the Science and Technology Advisory Group on Exploration. He spent four years at the ESA office in Washington DC, responsible for relations with NASA. She is a member of the International Women's Forum and Women in Aerospace Europe.
IDA PANETTA
Next on the list is Ida Panetta, associate professor of Economics of markets and international financial intermediaries at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Rome La Sapienza, where she also teaches Bank Economics and Management – business models and organisation. She is also coordinator of the Economic Sciences Working Group of the CIS-Cyber Intelligence and Information Security Research Center of Sapienza University and member of the CINI Cyber Security National Lab.
OTTAVIA ORLANDONI
He follows Ottavia Orlandoni, partner of the Dwf law firm since 2022. After obtaining a degree in Economics from the University of Genoa, he obtained a master's degree in corporate tax law from the Bocconi University in Milan. She has been registered in the register of chartered accountants and statutory auditors since 2009. She has worked in boutique firms specializing in tax law, including Fantozzi and associates, Puri Bracco Lenzi and associates (now Plusiders) and AndPartners.
BARBARA OLDANI
Merlyn then indicated Barbara Oldani, current head of shareholder engagement for the SSDH in London. Oldani launched and served as director of the Sovereign Decarbonization Program and Tagged Bond Campaign at the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance. He also held roles in London at Salomon Brothers, Citibank and Unicredit.
BORIS NEMSIC
Once the pink quotas are over, we find the former CEO of Telecom Austria Boris Nemsic, current president of Delta Partners. He was CEO of VimpelCom, Russia's second-largest integrated telecommunications operator.
PAUL DOANY
Then there is Paul Doany, former CEO of Turk Telekom, current president of ICT/Renewable Energy Ventures.
NICCOLO RAGNIGNI
Finally, closing the list of the Merlyn fund is Niccolo Ragnini, founder of Circuitus Capital and former UBS and Goldman Sachs, writes Repubblica today.
AGAINST THE LIST HEADED BY LABRIOLA
These are therefore the names on the list that will challenge the one filed by the outgoing board of directors with the business lawyer Alberta Figari, designated as president, and reconfirming her as CEO of Pietro Labriola, therefore seeking a second mandate.
WHO IS ON THE ASATI LIST
Meanwhile, a change in the list of small Asati shareholders for the Tim Board of Directors, a few hours before the deadline for the presentation expires. To resolve the problem of the lack of female representation which put the list presented two days ago at risk, in the last few hours the association has changed its approach, decreasing from 8 to 4 candidates and to the first three names – the president of Asati Franco Lombardi, Alberto Brandolese and Maurizio Matteo Decina – added the name of Francesca Dalla Vecchia, who works in the same accounting-consulting firm as Brandolese.
WHO IS ON THE BLUEBELL LIST
The Bluebell fund, which refers to Giuseppe Bivona, has also filed its own list of candidates for Tim's board of directors. The first name, according to what Ansa has learned, indicated for the presidency, is that of Paola Giannotti de Ponti, former advisor to Tim in 2018 when Luigi Gubitosi was CEO.
TIM AND VIVENDI CALLED BY THE GOVERNMENT
Finally, the network sales dossier.
After Easter the Meloni executive summoned Tim and Vivendi. On April 2, the leaders of the telephone group and those of its main French shareholder will be received in Rome by the golden power committee for a supplementary investigation into the sale of Netco to Kkr. The green light has already arrived but, according to what was anticipated by today's newspapers, the government would like to understand, in view of the assembly on 23 April, what orientation the French will have.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/vivendi-votera-la-lista-di-merlyn-con-siragusa-in-tim/ on Fri, 29 Mar 2024 13:59:29 +0000.