Vivendi responds to Elliott appeal to Telecom Italia investors

PARIS (Reuters) - French media conglomerate Vivendi responded on Monday to an appeal by Elliott to Telecom Italia (TIM) shareholders, saying the activist investor was not working for the benefit of all shareholders, but only for itself.

Vivendi said in a statement that it saw itself as a long-term investor in TIM, and had no other intention other to put in place a neutral board.

Earlier on Monday Elliott urged investors in Telecom Italia (TIM) to back its plans for the Italian group rather than those of Vivendi at a vote in March, in the latest salvo in the activist fund's row with the French media conglomerate.

Elliott, which owns just under 10 percent of TIM, is locked in a battle with Vivendi over how to relaunch the debt-laden Italian firm after wresting control of the board from the French company last year.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Sarah White)