Disqus
Vodafone may consider to sell its 44% stake in French SFR to its majority shareholder – Vivendi. According to Le Figaro, which doesn’t cites any sources, Vodafone’s board has told its executives that if they want to continue making acquisitions in emerging markets, then it will have to consider the sale of minority interests, such as SFR.
Vodafone’s stake in SFR is estimated to be worth around 6.8 billion EUR, but Vivendi has a right of first refusal and may not be willing to pay more than 6 billion EUR, according to Le Figaro.
Vivendi originally took control of SFR after acquiring British Telecom’s 26% stake in Cegetel, which on its end controls 80% of SFR. This in turn, gave Vivendi an effective 56% controlling interest in the network.
The way I see it, Vodafone should proceed and sell its stake in SFR to get more capital to invest in emerging markets. France is a saturated market, which can’t provide as significant returns as emerging markets can. Then again, it definitely provides stability… We’ll watch this story closely and keep you well informed…
[Via: CellularNews]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
