to buy Vodafone Italia for €8-billion and merge the carrier with its own Fastweb business, fending off rival bidders including French billionaire Xavier Niel.Vodafone, which controls South African-headquartered Vodacom Group, preferred Swisscom’s bid over a previous proposal from Niel’s Iliad because it has a larger cash component.
In a separate statement, Vodafone said it will be returning €4-billion to shareholders via stock buybacks. Vodafone Italia and Fastweb are the country’s second- and fourth-biggest operators, respectively, with combined sales of about €7-billion annually.Italy accounts about 11% of Vodafone’s revenue and is its largest market after Germany and the UK. —
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)
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