A US-based private investment firm with a stake of around 3 per cent in Telecom is nominating two candidates to stand for election as directors of Telecom.
Elliott International today said that in its view Telecom's performance had languished behind that of other key telecommunications players in the
international market, partly due to an unclear and outdated strategy.
In the past year it had asked Telecom to consider structural separation - "the next logical step in the operational separation process that Telecom began earlier this year", Elliott said.
The idea involved a simple structural split of Telecom's retail business from the remaining wholesale and network business.
On Friday, Telecom reported an annual operating profit from continuing operations down 15.5 per cent to $713 million.
"Telecom needs to take immediate and serious action to improve its situation and to consider and debate new ideas that will benefit customers and shareholders," Elliott said.
The two candidates nominated by Elliott are Mark Tume from Wellington and Mark Cross from Auckland.
They had agreed to stand on the basis that, if elected, they would be independent, Elliott said.
Tume is a professional director, whose directorships include Infratil, Transpower and Ngai Tahu Holdings Corporation. He is also a member of the board of the Guardians of The New Zealand Superannuation Fund.
Cross was most recently managing director and co-head of the European natural resources mergers and acquisitions team for Deutsche Bank.
They will stand for election at Telecom's annual general meeting on October 2.
- NZPA
