Vodafone accused of greed as talks drag on over French firm’s bid to buy back stake

The talks are in their early stages and are still ongoing, sources familiar with the situation said.

Vodafone is pushing for a high price for its 44 per cent stake in SFR, hoping to capitalise on the fact Vivendi has said gaining full ownership of its most profitable unit was its top M&A priority.

“Vodafone is being greedy,” said a person close to the situation. “They are asking for a price of close to £7.3bn, which Vivendi would never pay.”

Vivendi is understood to be unwilling to pay much more than £6bn for Vodafone’s stake.

Vodafone and Vivendi declined to comment.

Last summer, sources said that Vivendi had told investors during roadshows that it would seek to pay £5.3bn to £6.7bn for Vodafone’s SFR stake.

Price differences aside, the interests of the two shareholders are actually aligned for the first time in years.

Vodafone wants to exit SFR as part of an ongoing effort to clean up its portfolio by getting rid of minority assets.

The company has already sold stakes in China Mobile and Japan.

For its part, Vivendi wants to take full ownership of its biggest unit, SFR, because it would significantly boost profitability and cash flows.

But both sides are also downplaying their need to do the deal at any price.

Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao has said he is not a forced seller, while Vivendi chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy has pledged to remain disciplined on the price he will pay.

“Talks are not going well,” said one banker. “Vodafone wants a higher multiple for SFR than what it paid.”

The differences over price mean that it may take a bit longer before a deal for SFR is concluded. ING analyst John Davies said the price differences between the two sides remained quite big: “It is not as if either of them need to do a deal, so I am not convinced that anything will happen terribly rapidly.”

A number of analysts believe that Vodafone will not be able to extract a premium for its stake.