The controlling shareholders of Telecom Italia on Monday nominated Franco Bernabe as the new chief executive and Gabriele Galateri as the new chairman of the company.
Mr Bernabe, aged 58, is currently vice-chairman of Rothschild Europe and independent board member at Petrochina. He was chief executive at ENI SpA from 1992-98. He has already headed Telecom Italia for a few months at the end of 1998, before the company was taken over by a group of Italian investors. He served at ENI between 1983 and 1992 at various management positions including, chief executive.
Mr Galateri, aged 60, served as the chairman of Italian carmaker Fiat and the Italian holding companies Ifil and Ifi.
We believe the decision regarding management should provide greater clarity and direction for Telecom Italia and could be a positive catalyst for the stock, said UBS analyst a recent report to Wall Street Journal.
In May 2007, Telefonica collaborated with a group of Italian financial investors to buy control of Telecom Italia for E4.16 billion, through a new investment firm named Telco. According to Wall Street, the appointment of management came after Italy’s government and telecoms regulator AGCOM asked the new shareholders to name a new management team at Telecom Italia so that investments and business strategy can be planned.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
