Telecom Italia (TIM) TLIT.MI is volatile on the stock market Monday morning after the announcement on Sunday of the approval by the board of directors of the telecoms operator of the sale of its fixed network to the private equity fund KKR KKR .MI, a decision contested by its main shareholder Vivendi VIV.PA.
TIM shares, which were suspended on the Milan Stock Exchange in early trading after a jump of almost 5%, fell 3.27% around 8:53 GMT, the title being highly volatile.
In Paris, Vivendi VIV.PA shares fell 0.34% while the French group declared on Sunday in a press release that it “deeply” regretted that KKR’s offer had been accepted “without having previously informed and requested the vote of shareholders of Telecom Italia, thereby violating the applicable governance rules.”
Vivendi owns 24% of TIM and assured that it would use “all legal means at its disposal to contest this decision and protect its rights as well as those of all shareholders”.
TIM’s decision, supported by the Italian government led by Giorgia Meloni, is one of the cornerstones of the project of the operator’s managing director, Pietro Labriola, intended to bring the group out of the financial abyss.
(Reporting Giulia Segreti; French version Claude Chendjou, editing by Kate Entringer)