Elliott Advisors Criticizes Exodus of Telecom Italia's Board
23 Março 2018 - 9:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Marc Navarro Gonzalez
Elliott Advisors described the resignation of those Telecom
Italia SpA (TIT.MI) board members who are affiliated with Vivendi
SA (VIV.FR) as a way to delay change at the Italian company.
"Given the momentum behind Elliott's campaign at Telecom Italia
to improve both performance and governance, Elliott was not
surprised to see yesterday's resignation," the activist fund said
on Friday.
Elliott Advisors, the U.K. arm of Elliott Management, has gone
into battle with Vivendi, Telecom Italia's main shareholder, to
push for changes to the Italian company's board and strategy.
Vivendi, however, says it supports the strategy put forward by
Telecom Italia's chief executive and has criticized Elliott as
taking a short-term view.
Late Thursday, the majority of Telecom Italia's board resigned,
forcing a complete reshuffle. Telecom Italia called a shareholders
meeting for May 4 to appoint a new board.
Vivendi said the May meeting would allow shareholders "to
appoint the board members they want and [determine] which policy to
follow."
Another previously planned shareholders meeting is set for April
24.
Elliott, which recently built a stake of over 5% in Telecom
Italia, called the move a way "to stall for time." It deemed the
resignations "cynical and self-serving," and said they would delay
the ability of shareholders to decide on Elliott's proposals for
the company.
"This is yet another example of minority shareholder rights at
Telecom Italia being abrogated and the continued disregard of
corporate governance best practice," Elliott said.
Write to Marc Navarro Gonzalez at marc.navarro@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2018 08:43 ET (12:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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