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.
The Elliott fund and two other allied partners on Thursday
asked the TIM board to revoke six directors including the
president, Arnaud Roy 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 want 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 want 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.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA