Of course the board of directors of Telecom Italia (TIM) did not say no; but he didn’t say yes either. Sunday, November 21 in the evening, after an extraordinary meeting of more than four hours, the administrators of the Italian telephone operator did not even deliberate on the issue, and limited themselves to issuing a press release acknowledging the demonstration of interest, for the moment non-binding, formulated by the American investment fund KKR, made public a few hours earlier. But even if the maneuver is presented as “friendly”, it seems that a number of shareholders, starting with the first of them, the French Vivendi, owned by the Bolloré family and holder of just under 24% of capital, are more than reluctant.
Admittedly the amount of the offer values the group at a little less than 11 billion euros, that is to say about 50% more than its market capitalization Friday evening at the close of the markets (7.5 billion euros). But this figure remains quite low, given the plunge that the share price has experienced in recent months. How would Vincent Bolloré’s group accept with a light heart to endorse an operation that would amount to selling at 51 cents a piece securities acquired at more than one euro? On Sunday evening, the French group assured that it did not want to disengage, reaffirming that its investment in Telecom Italia was a long-term strategic commitment, and that it was above all anxious to relaunch the operator as quickly as possible in order to put an end to it. the cycle of bad results it goes through.
Growing distrust
For several months, Vincent Bolloré’s group has – on numerous occasions – raised a growing distrust of the current management of the former Italian public operator, in particular its managing director, Luigi Gubitosi, who was however reappointed in February 2021. It also seems to have excellent relations with the KKR fund, which joined forces with Telecom Italia a few months ago by investing 2 billion euros to take a 37.5% stake in the company. FiberCop, responsible for developing TIM’s “secondary network”, and therefore bringing optical fiber to all households in the country, in order to allow Italy to catch up in this area. The operational governance of the group was to be the main subject of an extraordinary board of directors convened for November 26 at the request of 11 of its 15 members, and undoubtedly the offer of KKR is likely to weigh down further. the agenda.
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