Telecom Italia SpA CEO Marco Patuano is to resign after clashing with Vivendi SA, the company’s biggest investor, ending a two-and-a-half-year tenure leading Italy’s former telephone monopoly.
Chairman Giuseppe Recchi is to assume Patuano’s duties until a replacement is appointed, said officials, who asked not to be named because Patuano, 51, has not yet signed resignation documents.
The leading candidate to replace Patuano is Flavio Cattaneo, CEO of Rome-based high-speed train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori SpA, according to the officials.
Luigi Gubitosi, former CEO of carrier Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, is also being considered, they said.
Patuano’s resignation comes after a seven-month struggle with Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore, who has been steadily raising the French media company’s stake in Italy’s biggest carrier. Bollore favors a sale of Tim Participacoes SA in Brazil to focus more on Italy, where Telecom Italia generates about 70 percent of sales, people familiar with the matter said last year.
Vivendi CEO Arnaud De Puyfontaine has met with potential candidates to replace Patuano, according to one of the people.
Patuano might receive a 7 million euro (US$7.9 million) payout when he departs, the officials said.
The company’s shareholders expressed full confidence in the board and Recchi, they also said.
Vivendi had been reviewing Patuano’s position, because the French media company had lost patience after investing about 3.5 billion euros, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.
In February, Telecom Italia’s 17-member board added Bollore allies to its two key committees.
Patuano recently met Vivendi’s top management to discuss strategy issues, such as cutting costs, revamping the domestic business and reviewing options for Brazilian unit Tim, according to the people.
Vivendi was said to be pushing Patuano to transform the carrier into a media group with a distinct focus on southern Europe.
Early on Saturday, newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Patuano was about to step down, without saying where it got the information.
Telecom Italia is to issue a statement on Patuano’s resignation when it becomes official, the people said.
Italy’s biggest telephone carrier reported a loss last year after a negative impact of bond transactions during the first part of the year. The net loss was 72 million euros, compared with net income of 1.35 billion euros in 2014, the Milan-based company said on Thursday.
Patuano, born in Alessandria, near Turin, joined Telecom Italia in 1990 after a degree in finance at Milan’s Bocconi University. He has presided over an almost 60 percent increase in Telecom Italia shares.
He sold the carrier’s stake in Telecom Argentina SA for US$960 million and planned to sell a stake in tower unit Infrastutture Wireless Italiane SpA.
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