How’s this for a piece of multi-billion dollar corporate multi-tasking.
Having just announced the out-of-the-blue departure of its chief executive, Arun Sarin, Vodafone is seemingly closing in on two deals – one stirring a battle for control of fast-developing emerging telecoms markets, the other bolstering its position in Europe.
According to a series of newswire reports, Vodafone is said to be on the brink of buying Tiscali’s assets in Britain and Italy – a twist on the Tiscali takeover saga that has also seen BSkyB, Fastweb and Wind table offers. According to Daily MF the terms are acceptable to Tiscali’s founder and main shareholder, Renato Soru.
Later, Daily MF was cited as saying that Vodafone would announce a full takeover of Tiscali within the next 24 hours, valuing the Italian company at around €1.6bn or 2.8 euros a share.
Later still on Tuesday, Tiscali was quoted as saying that talks with several parties were ongoing and that no decision had yet been taken on valuation.
Meanwhile, according to the FT, Vodafone has tabled an informal offer of $2.5bn for a further 12.5 per cent of South Africa’s Vodacom. It already owns 50 per cent of Vodacom, which the British operator is keen to use as the hub for African expansion.
Vodafone appears to have been spurred into action by the prospect of a merger between Reliance Communications of India and MTN, Africa’s largest mobile operator – details of which were recently revealed on FT Alphaville.
Related links:
Vodafone a un passo da Tiscali – daily Milano Finanza
Vodafone bids for control of S African operator – FT story
Ambani’s MTN control trick – FT Alphaville