Vodafone Says It Isn&#39;t Discussing Bid for Sprint With Verizon
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Vodafone Group Plc, the world&#39;s largest mobile-phone operator, said it&#39;s not in talks with US partner Verizon Communications Inc.
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Verizon Communications Inc. VZ.N  has no imminent plans to bid for Sprint Corp. FON.N, people  familiar with the situation said on Tuesday, toppling a  potential obstacle to Sprint's $37.8 billion bid for Nextel  Communications Inc. NXTL.O.
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Vodafone Group Plc  vowed not to pay "over the top" in the multi-billion-pound battle for India's Hutchison Essar on Wednesday, as the British mobile phone giant said it had crossed the 200-million customer mark.
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DECEMBER 10, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Rumored merger talks between Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. yesterday were met with a &quot;no comment&quot; from Sprint.
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group and the Essar Group couldÂ lock hornsÂ over the Indian company's demand to share management of Hutchison Essar, a large Indian mobile phone network operator. Essar claims it has the right to first refusal for any sale of equity in Hutchison Essar by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTIL), a claim denied by both Vodafone and HTIL. "We want joint management and a partnership of equals," a spokesman for Essar Group in Mumbai said Tuesday. Although the Essar Group would leave the day-to-day management of the company to Vodafone, it wants to be consulted on all strategic decisions, the spokesman said. The Essar Group, which holds 33 percent of the equity in Hutchison Essar, is scheduled to negotiate later this week a shareholder agreement with Vodafone, which hasÂ agreed to acquireÂ a 67 percent interest in Hutchison Essar from HTIL. The Essar Group claims that in its shareholder agreement, it has the right of first refusal if HTIL sells its equity, and that it may use this clause in the agreement to bargain with Vodafone. That view, however, isn't shared by Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, who last week told reporters that the Essar Group's right of first refusal doesn't apply to its agreement to acquire HTIL's stake. Nor does HTIL agree with the Essar Group. The right to first refusal applies only to the sale of equity by HTIL to local Indian competitors, the company said. The Essar Group is not a portfolio investor in Hutchison Essar and wants a say in running the business, the spokesman said. The arrangement would be similar to the one that the Essar Group had with HTIL and that helped grow the business for Hutchison Essar, he added. While announcing its agreement to acquire a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, Vodafone also made an offer to acquire Essar Group's stake at the same price per share offered to HTIL. If the Essar Group sells its stake, Hutchison's local partners, which together have a 15 percent interest in Hutchison Essar, will increase their interest to 26 percent, Vodafone said. Current Indian rules restrict foreign ownership in telecom service providers to 74 percent. Vodafone expressed interest, however, in having the Essar Group continue as a joint-venture partner. Indian joint ventures of multinational technology companies have typically ended with the foreign company buying out the local joint venture partner. In 1991, for example IBM set up a 50:50 joint venture with India's Tata Group to meet Indian government regulations restricting foreign ownership in computer companies. When that restriction was eased, IBM bought out Tata's share. Last week, however, the Essar Group said it would not exit from Hutchison Essar and would even be interested in increasing its stake in the mobile phone operator if an opportunity arose, the spokesman said.
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Nortel Networks on Monday declined to comment on a news report that the company is negotiating with Motorola to...
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update Verizon Communications has no imminent plans to bid for Sprint, people familiar with the situation said Tuesday, toppling a potential obstacle to Sprint&#39;s $37.8 billion bid for Nextel Communications.
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South Korea's SK Telecom denied on Tuesday a local newspaper report that it is preparing a bid for Sprint Nextel.
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Despite pressure from a shareholder group, Vodafone says it's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless is too profitable to get rid of.
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Nextel is reportedly in advanced merger talks with Sprint, a deal that would form the third largest US cell phone company. However, there were indications a third player, Verizon Wireless, might make a run
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TOKYO (CBS.MW) -- Deutsche Telekom AG&#39;s top executive has ruled out acquisitions or increased investment for its US Mobile phone business after a Sprint-Nextel merger, according to a published report Tuesday.
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US telecom giant AT&amp;T is not considering a bid for British mobile phone operator Vodafone, but is likely to make smaller acquisitions to better meet the needs of multinational companies, the company&#39;s chief executive said in an interview published Tuesday.
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Talking telephone numbers Vodafone has denied rumours that it is considering a leveraged buyout of US giant Verizon.â¦
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US mobile operators Sprint and Nextel are in talks about a $70bn merger (Â£36bn) according to newspaper reports. The deal would create the country&#39;s third-biggest mobile operator which would have 38.5 million
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England-based Vodafone Group Plc yesterday denied a report that it was backing partner company Verizon in a bid to block the possible merger between Sprint and Nextel, which analysts expected to be announced today.
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Global telecommunications giant Vodafone on Thursday said it would retain its 45 percent stake in US company Verizon Wireless, rejecting proposals from an activist shareholder group.
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(InfoWorld) - Shareholders of Vodafone Group soundly rejected a proposal to spin off the company's stake in Verizon Wireless on Tuesday, signaling they want the British mobile operator's management to stay the course. Vodafone, which has cellular businesses in 23 countries around the world, owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless. Incumbent wireline carrier Verizon Communications holds the other 55 percent. Efficient Capital Structures (ECS), an investor group, presented a resolution for Vodafone's Tuesday annual meeting that called on the carrier to either create a new holding company consisting of its stake in Verizon Wireless or create a separate tracking stock so investors could choose to buy into that part of Vodafone. ECS argued investors can't take advantage of Verizon's success today. "The investment is 'buried' within Vodafone's Emerging Markets division, preventing the market from valuing it directly," ECS Chairman Glenn Cooper said in a statement to shareholders. He also argued that because Verizon uses CDMA while the rest of Vodafone's networks are based on GSM, it should be broken out. However, less than 5 percent of Vodafone shares were voted in favor of the resolution, one of a series of proposals by the group that the company's board opposed. All of them were voted down. Verizon Wireless is one of the two dominant mobile operators in the U.S. Rival AT&T has 62 million subscribers to Verizon's 60 million, but Verizon had slightly more revenue last year at about US$38 billion. Vodafone's stake in the operator gives it a toehold in the U.S. mobile market but doesn't allow it to run its own business or build up its brand. Vodafone tried to acquire AT&T Wireless in 2004 before that company was acquired by Cingular. Joint ownership also leaves Verizon Communications without full ownership of its cellular business, which rival AT&T now has. That may make it easier for AT&T to bundle wired and wireless services for subscribers. Last week,Â Vodafone denied reports that it was considering buying all of Verizon CommunicationsÂ and then spinning off the wireless business. Vodafone had 198.6 million customers across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region at the end of last year. Â