Xavier Niel on Wednesday confirmed that he is acting alone in his acquisition of shares in Telecom Italia, laying to rest lingering rumours that he could have colluded with the telco’s major shareholder Vivendi.
Niel’s private holding company NJJ Holding issued a statement to that effect at the request of Italian stock market regulator Consob.
"NJJ Holding confirms that it acts on its own behalf and that it is not acting in concert," the firm said.
It confirmed that it holds a long optional position on 15.14% of the Italian incumbent’s share capital and voting rights via a subsidiary, Rock Investments.
"Until delivery of shares pursuant to the share settled options, this long position does not confer the power to exercise the voting rights attached to the underlying shares or have influence on the exercise of these voting rights," NJJ Holding added.
News of Niel’s arrival at Telecom Italia emerged late last week. On Thursday Consob disclosed that as of 21 October the French businessman held a long position equal to 11.21% of the operator and on Friday it added that he had again upped his stake, effective on 27 October.
Niel’s motivation in the matter was not entirely clear, and there was some speculation that he could be working with Vivendi, chaired by fellow French businessman Vincent Bolloré.
Vivendi holds 20.03% of Telecom Italia. A mandatory takeover offer would be triggered at 25%, hence the watchdog’s interest in the situation; together Vivendi and NJJ Holding would have 35.17%.
