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France's Vivendi to sell most of its TIM stake to Italy's

Poste

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Vivendi to drop legal claim against network deal when

stake sale

finalised, sources say

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Vivendi has no plan to play active role in TIM at present,

source says

By Elvira Pollina

MILAN, March 31 (Reuters) - France's Vivendi

will drop its legal challenge against the sale of Telecom

Italia's fixed-line network as part of a deal to sell

most of its stake in the telecoms group to Italy's Poste

, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

On Saturday Vivendi agreed to drastically cut its stake in

TIM, selling most of it to state-backed financial conglomerate

and former postal monopoly Poste Italiane, which would become

TIM's single largest investor with a 24.8% holding.

As part of the agreement with Poste, Paris-listed Vivendi

will drop a legal challenge against TIM's decision to sell its

fixed-line network when the 684 million euro stake deal is

completed in the first half of this year, the sources said.

The sale of the network, worth up to 22 billion euros, to a

consortium led by U.S. fund KKR was completed in July

2024 with the backing of Italy's government.

While stabilising TIM's finances, the grid sale strained

relations between TIM and its top investor Vivendi, which

subsequently decided to divest its 24% holding.

Vivendi turned to a Milan court in December 2023 to

challenge the TIM board's decision to sell the grid, saying it

should have been put to a shareholder vote.

In January 2023 Vivendi, which is controlled by French

billionaire Vincent Bollore, withdrew its representative from

TIM's board, distancing itself from TIM's strategy centred on

the sale of the former phone monopoly network assets.

With a remaining 2.5% stake in TIM, Vivendi has no plan to

play any active role in TIM at present, a source close to

Vivendi told Reuters.

Poste Italiane and Telecom Italia declined to comment.

Earlier this year, the Milan court ruled that Vivendi did

not have grounds to pursue legal action, saying it had failed to

exercise its right to call a shareholder meeting. Vivendi

appealed against the rejection of its claim last month.