Vivendi said on Friday that he no longer had control of Telecom Italia to the outcome of the vote of the general assembly, giving the majority of the council to the fund activist Elliott, which makes the exercise of special powers (“golden power”) by the State is no longer of importance.
“All issues such as special powers (…) will pass through the window,” said a spokesman for Vivendi in the margins of the general assembly of shareholders.
The list presented by the substantive activist Elliott was awarded on Friday two-thirds of the seats on the board of Telecom Italia, weakening the influence that had, until then, the French Vivendi, the largest shareholder of the operator.
Rome considers TIM to be of strategic importance to the country and was granted special powers last year to have his say on the major decisions of the operator.
The spokesperson for Vivendi was also surprised on Friday that the Caisse des Dépôts Italian has voted in favour “of a hedge fund u.s. short-term performance”.
“This is not a victory for the market because it is an entity of the State that tipped the vote in favor of a hedge fund american, rather than an industrial shareholder in the long term,” he stressed.
He also said that the managing director of TIM, Amos Genish, was a “free man”, who could decide what he wanted if working with Elliott does not like.
(With Reuters)
