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Arnaud de Puyfontaine

Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine will not, after all, serve as chairman of Telecom Italia (TIM), and is to serve instead as deputy to current chairman Guiseppe Recchi.

The first meeting of the new Telecom Italia board, which took place on Friday, also confirmed Flavio Cattaneo as the company’s CEO.

There had been speculation that De Puyfontaine, who appeared at the top of largest shareholder’s Vivendi’s list of nominees for the new TIM board – customarily reserved for the nominee for chairman – would take the top job.

Vivendi’s control over TIM is currently being considered by the European competition watchdog following Vivendi’s notification prior to the creation of the new board that it expected to assume ‘de facto’ control of the company. The EC is now set to pronounce on the matter at the end of this month.

Italian press have speculated that Recchi’s appointment is likely to be temporary, with De Puyfontaine set to take over the role after the EC rules on Vivendi’s control of the operator.

TIM said in a communiqué that Recchi, as executive chairman, would be responsible for the identification of the guidelines for the development of the croup, in agreement with the CEO, and the supervision of the development and delivery of the strategic, industrial and financial plans, among other duties. No additional responsibilities were delegated to De Puyfontaine.