MILAN (Reuters) – Shareholders in Telecom Italia on Thursday rejected the group’s pay policy after top investor Vivendi this month criticised criteria to award bonus payments to CEO Pietro Labriola.
The vote at Telecom Italia’s (TIM) annual meeting risks further weakening the position of Labriola, who has bet on the sale of TIM’s landline grid to fund a turnaround of the debt-laden group.
However, improved offers for the grid which TIM received on Wednesday fall well short of what Vivendi is seeking for the disposal of TIM’s main asset, which is key to supporting TIM’s junk-rated debt.
Shareholders, led by Vivendi with a near 24% stake, have approved the group’s 2022 financial statements but rejected the remuneration policy for 2023-2025.
They also rejected pay packages awarded in 2022, on which their vote however was non-binding.
After relinquishing its seats on TIM’s board, Vivendi has been piling pressure on directors saying they should only asses offers that value the grid fairly and put any decision to a qualified shareholder vote.
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Writing by Valentina Za; Editing by Keith Weir)
