Vivendi wants to get out of Tim by next year and at the same time continues the case against the Board of Directors’ decision to sell the network. The first hearing in the case is set for May 21. In the meantime, Tim’s stock continues to fall, today dropping 1.95% at 2.45 pm to 0.22 euros, despite yesterday’s decision by the Court of Milan to cancel the preventive seizure of 249 million euros in the of an investigation into alleged fraud in paid services. Arnaud de PuyfontaineCEO of Vivendi, said at the meeting that he hopes in a year’s time we will be able to say that the Tim case is closed.
But at what price?
Since joining Tim in 2015, Vivendi has invested around 4 billion euros and is currently running at a loss of 2.5 billion, according to a recent article in Financial Times.
An even greater loss for a recent article from Sun 24 Hours, according to which the French group, to become Tim’s largest shareholder, paid an entry fee of 4 billion euros, which to date, given that Tim’s capitalization is just under 5 billion, entails a loss of 3.2 billion euros. Loss which, according to what Andrea Biondi and Marigia Mangano write, rises to 4 billion euros if we consider the investment in MFE (MediaForEurope).
In short, Vivendi’s Italian campaign has turned into a bloodbath and the times when Vincent Bolloré imagined the birth of a southern European media hub, in alliance with Mediaset.
Especially since the Italian Government is openly in favor of the solution of selling the network to the American fund KKR. All while awaiting the opinion of the European Antitrust.
When will the EU Antitrust opinion be delivered?
It remains to be seen whether the current EU executive will be able to express an opinion or whether it will not be the next Commission, after the June elections, that will be entrusted with the Tim dossier. The Commission is expected to decide on the deal by May 30. In this way, if the response is positive, Tim’s timetable could be respected, as he would like to close the sale of NetCo to Kkr by July.
What seems certain is that Tim is no longer expected within Vivendi. “We want to find the conditions to write a new chapter in Italy, but no longer with Telecom – said CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine – I hope next year to be able to tell you that the case is closed.”
De Puyfontaine (Vivendi): ‘The priority is to defend our interests’
For now it is therefore a simple hope. And it would also be interesting to understand which new Italian chapter De Puyfontaine is talking about.
The CEO then reiterated Vivendi’s position in the dispute with the Board of Directors which decided to sell the network, ignoring the contrary opinion of the main French shareholder. “The Tim board of directors, which has just been re-elected, made the decision to sell the network to reduce debt, a decision that we, as the main shareholder, contest in substance and for the economic conditions, not at all in the interests of the shareholders”.
De Puyfontiane: ‘The main asset network of a telco’
Not to mention the network handover process: “When you have a telco, whose main asset is the network, when you split the telco from its network, at a minimum you should subject this operation to an ordinary meeting, which Tim did not do”.
Now, for de Puyfontaine, “the priority is to defend our rights as the main shareholder: we are doing this on various fronts and through various initiatives to defend the value of the transaction”. “
On the other hand, de Puyfontaine renewed his support for the group, underlining that he is aware “Of course, we are taking the necessary measures in France and through various initiatives launched to defend the value of the transaction. We understand that the operation is supported by the Italian political establishment – added the CEO – we are not against the decision, but as shareholders we have the right to a fair valuation that supports the value of our share.”
