MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia said there was no plan to call an extraordinary board meeting next week, a spokesman for the phone group said, after a report said some directors were asking for one to push for the resignation of Chief Executive Amos Genish.
Genish, a telecoms veteran close to TIM's top shareholder
Vivendi, was appointed to the helm of Italy's biggest phone group last year and was again confirmed after a board reshuffle in May.
Since the start of this year, he has been caught in the middle of a struggle between top shareholder
Vivendi and activist fund Elliott, which eventually wrestled board control from the French group at a shareholder meeting in May.
Genish's position has come under pressure due to tougher competition at home and the increasingly bitter war of words between the two main investors.
According to a report in daily Il Messaggero on Sunday, some board directors put forward by Elliott are asking for an extraordinary board meeting this week to seek Genish's removal.
"The next board meeting has already been called for Dec. 6 and no call for an extraordinary meeting is planned before that," the TIM spokesman told Reuters in a text message.
Genish is looking to execute a three-year plan launched in March focusing on a digital transformation of the group and fixing its finances.
A spokesman for Vivendi said on Sunday the French media group fully supported Genish and his business plan.
The French shareholder also said Elliott was only looking for a "scapegoat" for all its unfulfilled promised at the former state phone monopoly.
Asked whether Vivendi would call a shareholder meeting to push for another board reshuffle, the spokesman only reiterated that Vivendi would "do anything to protect its interests" without giving details.
Elliott declined to comment on the Il Messaggero report and Vivendi's accusations. The hedge fund has in the past urged Vivendi to work on constructive solutions at board level.
