© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Telecom Italia (TIM) logo is shown in this illustration taken on May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Rovic
Milan (Reuters) – Telecom Italia Two sources said Saturday that some directors urged BIT: (TIM) to convene an extraordinary board meeting to nominate a candidate sponsored by major investor Vivendi (OTC:) to fill a vacant seat at the former phone monopoly.
Vivendi is currently at loggerheads with TIM management over its plans to rejuvenate the domestic business of Italy’s largest telephone company by selling off its precious terrestrial network.
Sources said some of TIM’s directors sent a letter on Friday urging the company to call a meeting early next week to select Luciano Carta to fill a vacant seat on the board.
Vivendi nominated Carta, the former head of the Italian defense group Leonardo.
TIM and Vivendi declined to comment.
Telecom Italia’s nominations committee will start reviewing Carta’s candidacy on Monday, one of the sources said, adding that no board meeting has yet been called.
The board seat has been vacant since January when Vivendi’s CEO, Arnaud de Boifontaine, resigned from the board calling for the creation of new governance.
The French group, which owns a 24% stake in TIM, has questioned CEO Pietro Labriola’s plan to upend the heavily indebted company, centered on selling the network.
TIM has set a June 9 deadline to receive enhanced bids from rival firms KKR and a consortium consisting of Italian lenders CDP and Macquarie for the network.
In their latest bids, KKR and the rival consortium offered 21 billion euros ($23.12 billion) and 19 billion euros respectively for the asset, a source previously said, about 10 billion euros below Vivendi’s price to support a deal.
TIM directors are expected to discuss the bids at the regular board meeting scheduled for June 22.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)