Vodafone ponders $135bn US sell-off

MOBILE phone giant Vodafone was yesterday reported to be mulling its exit from America in one of the largest corporate transactions of all time.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Mar 2013, 00:00 BST

The company has recently been in talks with its US partner, Verizon Communications, over a sale of Vodafone’s 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless. Options have included a merger of the two telecoms giants and the partial sale of Vodafone’s stake, but the UK company is now leaning towards making a clean break from America, according to the Sunday Times.

A deal could be struck as soon as this summer and be worth as much as $135bn (£88.6bn), which compares with AOL’s record $164bn (£107.6bn) takeover of Time Warner in 2001. Vodafone has a market capitalisation of £90bn.

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The company is likely to use the proceeds from any sale on a major European deal or a return of cash to shareholders.

However, chief executive Vittorio Colao is not thought to be in any hurry to quit America and the newspaper believes he may still opt against any sell-off.

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