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\nXavier Niel<\/p>\n
French billionaire Xavier Niel is set to become Vodafone Group’s largest shareholder, after UAE telecoms group E& agreed to sell its entire stake in the British telecoms group for almost $6 billion.<\/p>\n
The deal gives one of Europe’s most active telecoms dealmakers, who has long championed consolidation in the continent’s fragmented industry, the largest stake in Britain’s biggest mobile operator.<\/p>\n
Vega, the acquisition vehicle wholly owned by the Niel family group, said it had struck a binding agreement to buy the roughly 16.2% stake for about \u00a34.4 billion ($5.91 billion).<\/p>\n
Vodafone has undergone significant restructuring under chief executive Margherita Della Valle since she took over in 2023.<\/p>\n
The group has exited Spain and Italy, sharpened its focus on Germany, Britain and Africa, and completed its merger with Three UK, creating Britain’s largest mobile operator.<\/p>\n
Vega will become Vodafone’s top shareholder upon the closing of the transaction and necessary approvals.<\/p>\n
“Vodafone is a compelling investment opportunity, underpinned by quality assets, strong brands, leadership positions and a diversified geographic footprint,” Niel said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“As a simpler, more focused business, Vodafone is ready for a new phase of growth and is well-placed to unlock substantial untapped value across its European and African operations.”<\/p>\n
Vodafone shares rose 12% to a high of 110 pence in early trade this morning.<\/p>\n
E& said its exit reflected the “natural evolution” of its priorities to “sharpen its strategic focus on core businesses” while unlocking cash from the sale.<\/p>\n
CCS Insight analyst Kester Mann said the move marked a surprising turnaround for E&, formerly known as Etisalat, which bought an initial 9.8% stake in Vodafone in 2022 for $4.4 billion and gradually built it up.<\/p>\n
“The announcement indicates that the Middle East company is taking a step back from its strategy to become a global telecom and technology player and now wishes to concentrate on its core businesses,” the analyst said.<\/p>\n
Vodafone welcomed Niel’s arrival as its largest shareholder. <\/p>\n
\nXavier Niel<\/p>\n
“We know the Niel family group well and look forward to engaging with them as a supportive, long-term shareholder,” Vodafone said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“They recognise the quality of our diversified operations and have confidence in the new chapter of Vodafone’s growth,” the company said.<\/p>\n
Niel has telecoms investments in nine countries in Europe, including in Ireland with eir, with about 50 million active subscribers and more than \u20ac10 billion of revenue.<\/p>\n
Europe’s leading telecom consolidator<\/p>\n
Niel first bought a 2.5% stake in Vodafone in 2022 through a separate vehicle, but that stake has since been sold, according to a spokesperson for Vega. He also sought to acquire Vodafone’s Italian business twice over the last few years and was rebuffed on both occasions.<\/p>\n
The billionaire has emerged as one of the most prominent players in the European telecoms sector, building up his Iliad from a French challenger into a group spanning France, Italy and Poland through acquisitions including Play and UPC Polska.<\/p>\n
Niel is the second French tycoon in as many years to target a major British telecoms company. Patrick Drahi’s Altice group acquired nearly 25% of BT before offloading it to Bharti Global two years ago to cut debt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French billionaire Xavier Niel is set to become Vodafone Group’s largest shareholder, after UAE telecoms group E& agreed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-542976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}