Telecom Italia former CEO agrees to quit board seat – sources

FAN Editor
FILE PHOTO: The TIM logo is seen at its headquarters
FILE PHOTO: The TIM logo is seen at its headquarters in Rome, Italy November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo

December 17, 2021

MILAN (Reuters) – Telecom Italia’s (TIM) former Chief Executive Luigi Gubitosi has agreed to step down from the company’s board, paving the way for Italy’s biggest phone group to name a successor, two sources close to the matter said.

The agreement resolves an impasse that had left TIM without a CEO when the group faces a $37 billion takeover approach from U.S. private equity fund KKR.

TIM’s boardroom crisis has complicated the group’s response to the proposal. KKR, whose offer is conditional on backing from TIM’s board and Italy’s government, has not yet been granted access to TIM’s data which it has requested before a formal bid.

Gubitosi had quit his role as CEO last month after coming under pressure from TIM’s biggest investor Vivendi and losing the confidence of a majority of board members, following TIM’s a string of profit warnings.

But Gubitosi did not step down as a board director, preventing TIM from naming a new CEO because there were no free board seats.

TIM promoted Pietro Labriola, the head of its prized Brazilian business, as general manager and sources had said he may be named CEO once a board seat was available. The company, however, is still hunting for a new CEO.

Gubitosi late on Thursday reached an deal with TIM’s nomination committee over the terms of his departure, the sources said, adding that the agreement had been approved at a board meeting on Friday.

TIM could name Gubitosi’s successor in a few days, one of the sources said, while the other source said the search was set to take longer.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Agnieszka Flak; writing by Valentina Za. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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