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The French investment company said it had reduced its stake in the Italian incumbent operator from 23.8% to 18.4%, as of March 18
Vivendi has this week confirmed that it has reduced its stake in TIM below 20%.
In a statement, the French investment firm said that it has reduced its stake from 23.8% to 18.4%, as of March 18, with CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine confirming that the company is aiming to offload the entirety of its stake.
The decision should come as little surprise to onlookers. Vivendi has had a problematic relationship for TIM for years, most notably surrounding TIM’s decision to sell its fibre network infrastructure to US investment firm KKR. The disgruntled investor claimed that the €22 billion deal undervalued the company’s assets and have since fought hard to get the deal nullified. Most recently, at the end of last yar, this took the form of a legal challenge, with Vivendi claiming that the sale violated TIM’s governance rules.
The ownership of TIM has been a hot topic this year, with Poste Italiane taking control of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP)’s 9.8% stake in the operator earlier this year. With TIM a critical player in the country’s digital fabric, the Italian government has been at pains to ensure strategic alignment. As such, Poste Italiane is seen as a more synergistic vehicle for reflecting government interest than CDP, given that the postal service operates the country’s largest mobile virtual network operator service, Poste Mobile.
Rumours were also swirling last month that rival operator Iliad Italia is considering a potential tie-up with TIM, having informed the government that it was exploring its options. Such a move would no doubt face intense regulatory scrutiny, not only reducing the number of players in the market from four to three but also putting a significant stake in the country’s largest operator into foreign hands.
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