French media giant Vivendi has succeeded in having its list of 10 candidates appointed to the 15-member board of Telecom Italia (TIM), with Italian fund association Assogestioni appointing the remaining five board members. A meeting of the Italian company's shareholders approved the slate of candidates submitted by Vivendi by a whisker – 49.3 percent of the vote against 49.0 percent who voted for Assogestioni's list – while also agreeing to cut the number of board members from 17 to 15.
The new board now has to decide whether to replace current TIM chairman Giuseppe Recchi with Vivendi chief executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who topped the French company’s list of proposed candidates. However, Italian press reports suggest Vivendi, which is TIM's top shareholder with a 24 percent stake, may have to wait for the result of a European ruling regarding its control over the Italian operator. Last month it informed the European Commission that it could have de facto control of Telecom Italia after the shareholder meeting. An EU Commission spokesman told Reuters it would rule on the matter by 12 May but an Il Sole 24 Ore report indicated the deadline had been extended until the end of the month.
