French media giant Vivendi (EPA:VIV) has nudged up its ownership in Telecom Italia (BIT:TIT) from 14.9% to 15.486%, according to Italian markets authority Consob.
Of this total, 7.256% is owned by Vivendi, and the remaining 8.23% by its subsidiary Societe d’Investissements et de Gestion (SIG 108), directly and indirectly. SIG 108 is the vehicle created by Vivendi to hold the stake it received from Telefonica in exchange for 4.5% of Telefonica Brasil as part-payment of the Spanish telco’s acquisition of Brazilian broadband provider GVT.
The second largest “relevant shareholder”, according to Consob figures, is the People’s Bank of China.
On Saturday Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine told journalists that the company had no plans to raise its stake in Telecom Italia.
A Vivendi spokesperson played down today’s slightly increased shareholding, describing it as an “adjustment” that however required informing Consob given the 15% threshold.
Puyfontaine, in his comments on Saturday, also declined to rule out raising its 1% stake in Telefonica, saying “Currently it’s not on the agenda…but never say never”, according to Reuters.
In late July, Vivendi agreed to exchange 58.4 million (equal to a 3.5% stake) of its Telefonica Brasil preferred shares for 46 million ordinary shares (a 0.95% stake) in Telefonica (MC:TEF), demonstrating is “intention to become more active in Europe and to pursue strategic partnerships there”, the company stated at the time.
Some observers believe Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore views Telecom Italia, for one, as a potential content distribution platform for his media assets, while others merely see him as an activist investor. De Puyfontaine has denied interest in Italian broadcaster Mediaset, which in August inked a partnership with Telecom Italia. The Italian incumbent signed a similar deal with Sky Italia in April.