TIM directors representing
majority shareholder Vivendi tendered their resignations
Thursday, effective April 24, the date of the AGM.
The board will be renewed on May 4, TIM said in a statement.
The resignations included that of Chairman Arnaud de
Pouyfontaine, who said "as chairman of TIM and in the interest
of all the shareholders, I wan to free the board of the climate
of uncertainty that has been created and which distracts
attention from what is our priority, that is the rapid
realisation of the DigiTim strategic plan".
He went on: "I confirm my commitment to the plan to transform
TIM and I am convinced that this decision will give further
stability and support to our CEO Amos Genish and his team,
enabling us to create value for all our stakeholders".
TIM's American depositary receipts fell 4.3% in New York on
the chairman's resignation.
A week ago the Elliott fund asked the TIM board to revoke
six directors including chairman de Puyfontaine, and the deputy
executive president Giuseppe Recchi, replacing them with six of
their own.
The other four directors Elliott International, Elliott
Associates and The Liverpool Limited Partnership wanted replaced
are Herve' Philippe, Fre'de'ric Cre'pin, Fe'licite' Herzog and
Anna Jones.
Four of these directors are linked directly to shareholder
Vivendi while two are independents but still elected in the
majority partner's list.
Elliott and the other two investors said they wanted them to
be replaced by the following six: Fulvio Conti, Massimo Ferrari,
Paola Giannotti De Ponti, Luigi Gubitosi, Dante Roscini and
Rocco Sabelli.
TIM said it would add the issue to its agenda for a
shareholders meeting on April 24.
Financial sources said Elliott's problem was Vivendi and not
CEO Amos Genish, who was not included among the execs it wants
to replace.
They said the fund considered Genish a very competent TLC
expert and his business plan well constructed, and it
appreciated the way the management handled the day-to-day
running of TIM.
The problems linked to Vivendi allegedly included conflicts
of interest that allegedly spurred operations deemed
disadvantageous for minority shareholders, the financial sources
said.
US investor Elliott's plan for TIM which envisages spinning
off and floating the network "is a project that coincides with
what we intend to do for the public interest," Industry Minister
Carlo Calenda said Wednesday.
"But I think that TIM, too, was oriented in this direction,"
the minister added.
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