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Italian market watchdog Consob ruled that Vivendi, TIM's top
shareholder with a 24% stake, took control of two-thirds of the
Italian phone company's board in 2017.
Activist fund Elliott eventually wrested control from Vivendi
the following year.
In 2020, Italy's top administrative court annulled the
resolution of Consob, which subsequently appealed that decision.
Vivendi declined to comment. Consob did not immediately respond
to a request for comment.
The supreme court's ruling came as Vivendi is calling for
governance changes in Telecom Italia to better reflect the
relative weight of shareholders.
The ruling, published on Tuesday, could give the French group
the option to present its own list of candidates to win TIM's
board control without being compelled to consolidate the former
phone monopoly's financial accounts, including its 25.5 billion
euro debt pile.
At present, no Vivendi's representative sits on TIM's board of
directors, after the French group's CEO left his seat earlier
this month.
In 2021, Vivendi and Italy's state lender CDP both backed a
slate of candidates presented by TIM's board.
The French group will resume talks on Thursday with the
government and Telecom Italia's No.2 investor CDP, over a revamp
of the former phone monopoly centred on an asset split.
Parties involved in the talks failed to find common ground on
key issues in a first round of negotiations in December, with
asset valuations, debt and staff allocations remaining key
issues, sources have said.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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