Telecom Italia faces tense board meeting
Heavily-indebted Telecom Italia held a crucial board meeting on Thursday amid tensions over its main shareholder, Spain's Telefonica.
It was the first board meeting since chairman Franco Bernabe stepped down last month following an uproar in Italy over an increased stake for Telefonica, which is also a Telecom Italia rival.
Telecom Italia is under pressure to reduce its €28.8-billion mountain of debt and to adopt a strategy that will allow it to get back on track in a highly competitive market.
Telefonica now holds a 66-percent stake in a holding company which owns 22.4 percent of Telecom Italia, but has an option to own the holding company outright next year and control Telecom Italia.
The company is often held up as an example of the failure of Italy's industrial model in the same way as flag carrier Alitalia, which could be taken over by Air France-KLM or another foreign airline.
The Italian government is looking into ways of modifying the current law on takeovers to prevent Telefonica from increasing its stake, saying this would mean more security and more jobs for Italy.
Ahead of the board meeting on Thursday, Telecom Italia's share price fell by 1.86 percent during trading to €0.738, while the overall FTSE Mib benchmark index in Milan was up 0.53 percent.
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It was the first board meeting since chairman Franco Bernabe stepped down last month following an uproar in Italy over an increased stake for Telefonica, which is also a Telecom Italia rival.
Telecom Italia is under pressure to reduce its €28.8-billion mountain of debt and to adopt a strategy that will allow it to get back on track in a highly competitive market.
Telefonica now holds a 66-percent stake in a holding company which owns 22.4 percent of Telecom Italia, but has an option to own the holding company outright next year and control Telecom Italia.
The company is often held up as an example of the failure of Italy's industrial model in the same way as flag carrier Alitalia, which could be taken over by Air France-KLM or another foreign airline.
The Italian government is looking into ways of modifying the current law on takeovers to prevent Telefonica from increasing its stake, saying this would mean more security and more jobs for Italy.
Ahead of the board meeting on Thursday, Telecom Italia's share price fell by 1.86 percent during trading to €0.738, while the overall FTSE Mib benchmark index in Milan was up 0.53 percent.
Don't miss a story about Italy - Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
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