Vodafone agrees to buy controlling stake in Hutchison Essar
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone agreed to buy an 11-billion-dollar controlling stake in India's Hutchison Essar in an attempt to move into the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.
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Mobile phone giant Vodafone Group   confirmed on Monday its plan to enter Britain's  cut-throat fixed-line broadband Internet market via a deal with  the wholesale arm of telecoms firm BT Group .
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InfoWorld - Vodafone Group intends to keep its stake in Verizon Wireless, despite a proposal submitted by a large shareholder recommending a change in the holding.
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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
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HONG KONG/BARCELONA  - Shares in Vodafone are expected to open higher on Monday after it beat rival suitors with an $11.1 billion bid for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-biggest mobile phone firm.
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The offer values Hutchison Essar, one of Indiaâs fastest-growing telecommunications companies, at about $19 billion.
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Vodafone Group Plc plans to hand 6.0  billion pounds ($11.12 billion) back to shareholders this year  after doubling half-year and full-year dividends and boosting a  multi-billion pound share buy-back program.
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(InfoWorld) - British mobile services operator Vodafone Group will acquire a majority stake in Hutchison Essar, winning aÂ heated bid for controlÂ of the Indian mobile services operator. Vodafone announced late Sunday that it has agreed to acquire companies that control a 67 percent stake in Hutchison Essar from Hutchison Telecommunications International, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa. Hutchison Telecommunications holds a majority stake in Hutchison Essar both directly and through a joint venture company in which Indian partners hold shares. Vodafone will pay $11.1 billion in cash for the acquisition, along with assuming $2 billion in debt, through its subsidiary Vodafone International Holdings. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, and is conditional to Indian regulatory approval, it said. Hutchison's decision came over the weekend, after it evaluated bids from four key contenders including Indian mobile services provider Reliance Communications, the Hinduja Group of the U.K., and Indiaâs Essar Group, which holds 33 percent in Hutchison Essar, according to informed sources. Vodafone will offer to acquire the Essar Groupâs stake at the same price per share it is offering Hutchison, the company said. Indian regulations however do not allow foreign operators to hold more than 74 percent of the equity in an Indian telecommunications service provider. If the Essar Group sells its stake, Hutchisonâs local partners, which together have a 15 percent interest in Hutchison Essar, will increase their interest to 26 percent, Vodafone said. The Essar Group said in its statement late Sunday that it was evaluating an offer from Vodafone to be a partner. The Essar Group has the option to continue as an equity holder in Hutchison Essar or sell its stake along with Hutchison Telecommunications. Vodafone has been seeking Hutchisonâs stake since December last year, and in January the companyâs CEO,Â Arun Sarin visited India to press its caseÂ with the Indian government and business partners here. India is adding over 6 million new mobile subscribers every month. Hutchison Essar had 23.3 million customers as of December 31, 2006, which gave it a 16.4 percent market share. Vodafone also offered Sunday to sell its stake of 5.6 percent in Bharti Airtel, also a large Indian mobile services operator, to another company of the Bharti Group for $1.6 billion, double the price for which itÂ acquired the stake in 2005. It also announced a memorandum of understanding with Bharti Airtel for infrastructure sharing with Hutchison Essar.
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BARCELONA/MUMBAI  - Britain's Vodafone Group Plc  has won the battle for a controlling stake in Hutchison Essar with a bid that values India's fourth-biggest mobile firm at around $19 billion, including debt.
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BARCELONA/MUMBAI  - Vodafone Group Plc  has won the battle for a controlling stake in India's No.4 mobile operator Hutchison Essar with a bid that values it at around $19 billion including debt, a source and India's Essar group said on Sunday.
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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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By agreeing to pay $11.1 billion for a majority stake in Hutchison Essar, Vodafone of Britain faces the challenge of running the fast-growing Indian cellphone business with the cost discipline that is custom in that country.
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Swisscom  has agreed to  repurchase a 25 percent stake in Swisscom Mobile from British  mobile phone company Vodafone  for 4.25 billion Swiss  francs ($3.48 billion), in a long-awaited deal.
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Swiss telecoms operator Swisscom has said it would retake full control of Swisscom Mobile, buying back the 25 percent stake it sold to British operator Vodafone six years ago.
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US phone company SBC  Communications agrees to buy its former parent AT&T for about $16bn (Â£8.5bn).
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Vodafone could pay up to $10bn (&pound;4.9bn) to take full control of Vodacom, South Africa&#39;s largest mobile group.