Vivendi has told the European Commission that next month's Telecom Italia shareholder meeting may hand it de facto control of the Italian company, Reuters reported. Two of Reuters' sources said it sent a notification to the Commission as it seeks to secure two thirds of the seats at the 04 May meeting. An EU Commission spokesman told Reuters it had received a notification from Vivendi and would rule on the matter by 12 May.
Press reports have suggested Vivendi wants to install its chief executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine as chairman of TIM, leading to the departure of current CEO Flavio Cattaneo, but the French group has so far denied that it has control over the company.
De Puyfontaine is already deputy chairman within a sixteen-strong TIM board and Vivendi is also reported to want to cut the number of members to fifteen.
Cattaneo said yesterday he intended to stay on no matter who was chosen as chairman and denied that there were disagreements with shareholders, including Vivendi, which has a 24 percent stake.
An audit of Telecom Italia commissioned by Italian market regulator Consob found that Vivendi is already in a position to influence other board members and the watchdog is concerned that the French company's stake-building in key Italian communication companies could contravene antitrust rules.
The TIM stake is valued at around EUR 3.03 billion and Vivendi has built also a near 30 percent stake in Mediaset since December.
Communications regulator Agcom is due to rule at the end of April on whether Vivendi is abusing its dominant position in the communications sector and needs to divest some of its shares in the two companies.
