A slim majority of 50.3 per cent rejected a proposal to oust the board of Telecom Italia in what is a fight over the Italian operator’s future strategic direction.

Rebel investor Marco Fossati’s Findim Group, which had made the proposal to remove the Italian operator’s board of directors, said it would continue its fight against the growing influence of Telefonica.

Findim’s motion did succeed in gathering 42.3 per cent support at the shareholders’ meeting, with a further 7.4 per cent abstaining.

However, Fossati said he now intends to submit a proposal to give greater influence to minority shareholders on Telecom Italia’s board.

The tenure of the current board expires in April.

In an extraordinary session of the meeting, 81 per cent of votes approved an increase in capital through the issue of ordinary shares to enable the conversion of the mandatory convertible bonds for a sum of €1.3 billion.

Separately, prosecutors in Rome said they are looking at recent “developments” at Telecom Italia along with the country’s stock market regulator.

However, Telecom Italia and Telco are not under investigation for obstruction of regulatory activities, according to Bloomberg, following recent reports in the local media.