MILAN, May 20 (Reuters) – Telecom Italia (TIM) (TLIT.MI) is being urged by some directors to hold an extraordinary board meeting to nominate a candidate sponsored by top investor Vivendi (VIV.PA) to to fill a vacant board seat at the former telephone monopoly, two sources said Saturday.
Vivendi is currently at odds with TIM’s management over its plans to revamp the domestic business of Italy’s largest telephone company through the sale of its prized landline network.
Some TIM directors sent a letter Friday urging the company to call a meeting as early as next week to select Luciano Carta to fill a vacant seat on the board, the sources said.
The appointment of Carta, former president of the Italian defense group Leonardo, is sponsored by Vivendi.
TIM and Vivendi declined to comment.
One of the sources said Telecom Italia’s nomination committee will begin a review of Carta’s candidacy on Monday, adding that no board meeting has yet been called.
The board seat has been vacant since January, when Vivendi Chief Executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine left the board and asked for a new governance structure.
The French group, which owns a 24% stake in TIM, has questioned CEO Pietro Labriola’s plan to turn the debt-laden company into selling the network.
TIM has set a June 9 deadline to receive enhanced offers from rival suitors KKR (KKR.N) and a consortium consisting of Italian state lender CDP and Macquarie (MQG.AX) for the net.
In their latest bids, KKR and the rival consortium bid for 21 billion euros ($23.12 billion) and 19 billion euros respectively for the asset, a source has previously said, some 10 billion euros below Vivendi’s price tag to sell a $10 billion deal. to support the deal.
TIM directors are expected to discuss the bids at an ordinary board meeting on June 22.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Edited by Mike Harrison