Liberty Global Take 4.92 Percent Stake in Vodafone’s Mobile Biz
Cable broadband giant Liberty Global has today acquired 1.335 million shares in Vodafone Group PLC, which represents 4.92% of the outstanding share capital (excluding treasury shares). But the operator confirmed that “it is not considering an offer” for the UK based mobile operator and will not seek board representation.
The transaction is said to have been principally funded through an “attractive non-recourse financing, requiring equity funding” from Liberty Global of approximately £225 million. The investment in Vodafone is said to form part of Liberty Global’s investment portfolio of more than 75 companies and funds across content, technology, and infrastructure, including stakes in companies such as ITV, Plume and the Formula E racing series etc.
The move is interesting because Liberty Global and Telefonica only fairly recently concluded a £31bn mega-merger of their respective Virgin Media (broadband, phone and TV) and O2 (mobile) brands in the UK. But today’s announcement is perhaps more about maintaining a wider strategic interest in Vodafone across other parts of Europe.
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, commented:
“We believe, like many others, that Vodafone’s current share price does not reflect the underlying long-term value of their operating businesses, or their announced consolidation and infrastructure opportunities. We continue to remain disciplined about our capital and fully expect that the equity used to fund this investment will be replenished with the sale of certain non-core assets over time.”
End.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
« Rural Community MyFi FTTP Broadband Network in Wales Extends Coverage UPDATE
Latest UK ISP News
- FTTP (5530)
- BT (3518)
- Politics (2542)
- Openreach (2298)
- Business (2266)
- Building Digital UK (2247)
- FTTC (2045)
- Mobile Broadband (1977)
- Statistics (1790)
- 4G (1668)
- Virgin Media (1621)
- Ofcom Regulation (1465)
- Fibre Optic (1396)
- Wireless Internet (1391)
- FTTH (1382)
Curious. How big a stake are they allowed to buy, without the regulators potentially objecting?
Well, it’s obviously not even close to being a controlling / majority stake. But then the UK Government did sniff around Altice UK’s 18% stake in BT, before deciding not to do anything about it (largely because there wasn’t much of a need to take any action at such a level, but it’s the political signalling that counted there).
30% of the voting rights is the level where they have to attempt to purchase VF. They’ve less than 5% of the stock and those regular shares will probably carry less than 5% of the voting rights.
Wasn’t expecting them to do that. But like your said they want their hold on more operations around EU too.
Three and Vodafone are in talks to partner up! Though I do find that a little odd. Since Three UK and Three Republic of Ireland businesses have been brought closer together since they share things like CEO. COO & the others in management.
We know financially this is a life line for Vodafone but is this good or bad news as they are trying to merge with Three UK as we know talks are ongoing certainly Three will have a say in this it could put Three UK off.
I don’t understand how this enriches Vodafone. These were shares that were already publicly traded, no?
@iain, could have been a direct deal between VF and Liberty. VF sold a portion of it’s own stock, and this VF now has 4% lower voting power in exchange for a big wad of cash.
VF can’t own their own stock. They buy it back it’s taken out of circulation and fewer shares are in the float, increasing the value of the remaining shares. Check what stock buybacks are. They aren’t temporary, the shares are gone.
They can’t sell new shares either without going through some processes: that’d be a stock issue diluting the value of existing stock.
Looks like LG just bought VF stock on the open market.
Vodafone can own their own stock. If a company buys back their own shares they can cancel them, otherwise they can hold them as treasury shares.
Stand corrected.
Any financial benefit either way would’ve been pretty minimal and certainly not a lifeline to a company with $18 billion in the bank
could put Three UK off
I hope so, that would be nice, I use Smarty which belongs to three, and I really don’t want Vodafone merging with them
Feels like a potential spoiler. It’s worth remembering that VF and LG did a deal in NL (50-50), so they do have experience of working with VF in other markets.
From a UK perspective, I’d argue that an O2-VM/VF merger might be better than with 3 to keep things in balance. Also from a spectrum perspective, with O2 having the least spectrum, merging with VF would possible have less competition issues compared to 3 who are literally swimming in it (especially in respect the larger blocks in the higher frequency bands which are going to become increasingly valuable in built up areas).
gaaah o2 not enough for them? Imagine if they take over Vodafone, and Vodafone buys three. Liberty Global/Virgin media owning it all. As usually Competition Commission asleep on the job. What’s the point of all these toothless regulators?
Exactly. Im thinking are we heading slowly back to a duopoly, like back in the Cellnet & Vodafone days ? 🙁
It’s not the regulator’s job to step in because one company buys less than 1/20th of a competitor.
They get to 30% of the voting rights they have to try and acquire VF. They’ve a way to go get. The regulator will be watching, just as they watched Alice, but nothing to see here. Yet.
Vodafone are about to go bankrupt
End of last September they had nearly $18 billion cash in hand.
They have liabilities in total of $112.735B and assets of $178.97B.
They’ve been profitable for the last two years and have paid down some liabilities.
Think they’re unlikely to go bankrupt imminently.
it’s a little worrying and very scary and I think it’s all about the Control of the 5g and telecoms infrastructure as all those Massive 4 Companys are under the Umbrella and are Contributors to the WEF(Klass Schwab) fourth Industrial Revolution
1) Liberty global
2) virgin media/02
3) BT/EE
4)Vodafone
He who controls the (Media controls the masses)
Check it out
Hahaha. Liberty global own VM/o2
Here we go with the WEF nonsense.
VMO2 is a joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefonica. Why not spend a few minutes on Google trying to find links between Telefonica and the WEF.
You forgot about the company with the most 5G spectrum: Three / Hutchinson Telecom.
And the network neutrality rules.
Someone watched some conspiracy pap about the WEF and decided there was some conspiracy within the telecoms world without actually understanding the telecoms world. It’s an A+ for linking them to the WEF, a U for the total lack of knowledge about the industry or the network neutrality legislation governing it.
Censorship that isn’t mandated by courts, so nothing to do with these guys apparent chummy vibe with our Davos overloads, and cannot be disabled by users is a massive no-no.
Bloody “rootless cosmopolitan” (you know what I mean) controlled WEF trying to take over the world and make us “Indigenous” (YKWIM) British men infertile with their so-called ‘5G’ microwaves, so we can be replaced with all the other lot they’re paying to come over here in dinghies to STEAL OUR JOBS AND WOMEN!!!
MAKE ME PM AND I’LL SAVE US… AGAIN!!!
uh he said who controls the media controls the people. He’s right. Or did you think people like Murdoch haven’t influenced US politics with their Fox News? Anyway people like you will be asleep while the BoE introduce their central bank digital currency where you’re only allowed to have £20k and you’ll be sitting there saying this is fine, you’re all conspiracy nutters waffle waffle.
Baaaa sheep. Baaaa. You’re not super smart because you shout “conspiracy theory!” at people. You’re the type that waits until you have a police boot on your neck before you think anything is wrong.
Lol this is what lefties do. Try to make people look insane. They’re room temperature IQ labour voters everyone is bad etc. Dave didn’t say anything about 5G microwaves or immigrants but some nutter tries to conflate them to make him look stupid. Why don’t you lot actually try reading what was written first because now you look stupid while you try to do that to Dave.
@Bumble Spiltspleen aka @Sir Kief Sativamer
You nor Dave (assuming you’re not Dave’s sock puppets) require any assistance to demonstrate your hilarious insanity and foolishness.
Bless your ranting little face… kisses!
CBDCs are ALREADY rolled out in Nigeria. Most people have rejected it and have stuck to cash. The Nigerian central banked is actively excluding the biggest notes and not printing any additional ones, causing a massive cash shortage, which the weakened economy cannot withstand. People are losing their family businesses and the bank says doubling down is “worth it”
– The Guardian has published an article on the above. The same leftist propaganda outlet that you commies/globalist simps love
A few years ago the WEF decided to cause mass starvation in Sri Lanka, and banned Argentinians from buying dollars and bitcoin. All these poor countries are being used as test tubes to test dystopian govt control, yet a lot of people still believe they are conspiracy theories
The EU is proceding with adding crickets to flour and even in the UK, in cities like Oxford and Bath they are going ahead with 15min neighboorhoods, or communist Khan with his ULEZ, which are essentially banning freedom of movement for the poor, which is an actual human right
VM is greedy (I mean Liberty Global) That is.
So’s every other for-profit company.
I knew Liberty Global had something to do with Virgin, but I was not sure what else they had shares in, so I just had a looked, they have their fingers in a lot of pies. Not good to be honest
wha?? by that logic any private equity firm is “bad” because they’ll own lots of things.
@Matt, they normally are, as all they are interested is in how much money they can make in the shortest time possible. I know making money is what they are in business for, the problem is they don’t care about people apart from the shareholders, directors and other top end peeps. The problem is most people’s pensions are also linked to these companies, including mine.
I also realise that a lot of the Alt nets would not be able to lie the infrastructure for fibre if it was not for these companies, either. Catch 22. Talking of which I have to go to work now, for another big corporate company sadly.
This comment has nothing to do with the topic per se, it’s just I’ve begun to note some nonsense/half-truths beginning to be talked about hereabouts about CBDCs and the possible introduction (likely, I would say) of the digital pound.
Let’s lay one ghost, and that concerns the proposed max holding.
This, at least for now, is only being envisaged as a temporary measure during a transition period. The reason for the proposed limit is to maintain stability in the banking system. Banks do not want to be put into a situation of strong demand for digital pounds (e.g. in a crisis) meaning they have large cash outflows (which they have statutory obligations concerning) that they cannot replace in a timely manner. It’s called a run on the bank, and we should all know where that leads.
It’s initial introduction without limits could also precipitate a credit squeeze, which would be bad for everyone, business and individuals alike. Anyway, why would anyone want £20k in a non-interest-bearing account, let alone more than £20k? There are better places for money to be.
I’d urge interested people to read the BoE discussion paper on the digital pound (Google or DuckDuckGo it, it’s easy to find). And if, on reading what is actually proposed (and why), you have concerns/observations that they are raised through the feedback process.
“talked about hereabouts about CBDCs”. Gosh that was a mouthful.
“nonsense/half-truths”. Oh which part was nonsense/half truth. Is there a £20k limit on CBDC or is there not? which part is nonsense or half truth to that statement? I’ll wait. Oh here’s the source for that part too
https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/consumers-face-20000-pound-limit-digital-pound-bank-england-says-2023-02-07/
It says the rest will be swept into a “commercial bank account”. Since your English is a bit iffy, a commercial account means it’s for business. What about regular plebs? Why are the BoE stooges writing comments on an ISP forum?
Nothing said was a lie. Nothing said was nonsense. Nothing said was half-truth. Your story about “runs on the bank” makes zero sense when you’re talking about a digital currency, and a currency where the BoE can just press copy on the printer and print more money. CBDCs were announced at Davos (oooops must be a conspiracy!) and then weeks later the BoE are announcing CBDC digital pound, and the civil service are advertising the job of “head of digital currency”. It is designed to limit your funds, it is designed to spy on you. It won’t work when the power goes out, it won’t work if the internet goes down (and look at Italy, entire country offline for a bit). It’s designed to stop people working for cash, to monitor your every move, to see who you exchange money with. And yes it might coexist with “real” money for a while, but eventually it will replace paper fiat.
And what happens if Klaus Schwab’s dream of ze global cyber attack happens? your electronic dubloons all useless. What happens if the gov doesn’t like you and decides to turn off your CBDC wallet.
Anyone who thinks this is a good idea is a nutter, or a spook trying to influence us. Also do you really think it’s possible to just object to this stuff and it will go away? it won’t.
You know what else they announced at Davos? something that goes hand in hand with CBDC? mandatory digital ID. You’ll need it for your CBDC once they’ve brought it in and got everyone using it. Then you’ll need it to access adult services, then finally you’ll need it for accessing the internet at all or buying a mobile phone.
Now go do what all good spooks do, and call it “misinformation”, or “nonsense” or “half truths” you literally cannot refute anything i’ve written. Because it’s true.
Good grief, the “5G causes COVID19” brigade really are in the room!
“[I]incoming funds that would take a user’s holdings of digital pounds above the limit to be automatically ‘swept’ into a nominated account where it can be held in another form of money, such as a commercial bank deposit.”
That what I said makes “zero sense” to you just means you are uneducated in the intricacies of what happens when large amounts of money suddenly get removed from a bank because of some real or perceived but false rumours. Think Northern Rock and Metro Bank in the UK.
That nominated account could mean your Natwest, Lloyds, Santander, Chase, Halifax, Virgin, HSBC, Yorkshire, Nationwide, Principality, Skipton, … bank/building society account. Take your pick.
Sir/madam, you are a loon.
“Good grief, the “5G causes COVID19” brigade ”
Again. Nobody said this. People can actually read, and not once did anyone say this. You love your misinformation and making up phrases and saying haha look what someone said, when nobody said it.
You even write quotes that don’t exist in the article. Again with your misinformation. What the article actually said was “Money above the cap would be “swept” into a customer’s commercial bank account” < Quote. Not made up quote like yours that says a nominated account. The article doesn't say this and you just made that up entirely.
You are misinformation. You write strawman arguments and then say haha look someone said this, when nobody said it. You write quotes that don't exist, then use your made up quotes to attack the person you're trying to refute.
Nice try though. Do you work for BBC or Fox News or something? You make up so much stuff it's unreal. How about you actually quote what people said
1. Nobody said anything about 5G and covid. Not one single comment here says this.
2. Your quote about "nominated account" is your own fiction you created and is NOT what the article says.
You sir/madam, are fake news.
Good god do shut up. This is a forum for internet service providers. It’s not your soapbox for shilling for dodgy central bank currencies or conspiracies about the world economic forum. Try to stay on topic.
You’re both idiots
I’m truly sorry you seem too dim to appreciate when an analogy/allusion to tinpottery was being made, when a simile was being intimated.
I’ve said all I’m going to say on this subject, at least with someone who appears to be the resident split-personality tinfoil-adorned crackpot.
Others can make their own judgements, hopefully after reading the actual discussion document.
If you don’t participate in the process arising out of the discussion document and relay what may be (at least to you) valid concerns about the direction of travel, then the only one to blame for someone not taking your views into account in the eventuality we get a digital pound would be you for not participating in the process.
While @The voice of reason says has a valid point on subject matter, I make no apology for confronting untruths and crackpottery, which if left unanswered tend to become de facto “truths” in other people’s minds.
The proprietor is quite at liberty to delete my comments on the matter. Providing the “crackpot’s” comments are also removed, I would have absolutely no problem with that.
You argued in bad faith including ad hominems “loon” “tinfoil”, strawman “5G causes COVID19” and you defend totalitarian policies like the CBDCs which Pablo has a good comment on it above. Any sane person reading this can see which side is sane
Conspiracy theories are spoilers for the months and years ahead.
There are resources online that show the numerous links and ownership between companies, corporations, institutions and organisations.