Bloomberg reports that the Swedish activist investor, Cevian Capital, urges consolidation in key markets, share buy-back
Bloomberg’s sources said that Vodafone is being urged to consider consolidating its presence in key markets, selling some operations and pursuing stock buy-backs by Cevian.
Last week, Christer Gardell, Managing Partner at Cevian Capital, was not complimentary about Ericsson’ performance – which included a 41% rise in profits – and make recommendations for improvement.
Vodafone on the case
Vodafone has been and continues to explore options to improve its situation.
Earlier this month Vodafone’s joint venture in India, Vodafone Idea, offloaded an almost 36% stake in the struggling company to the Indian government.
Vodafone’s CEO talked about the necessity of regulators allowing consolidation in European markets last November when the company reported its Q3 numbers.
Bloomberg reported that Vodafone is interested in acquiring Three UK from CK Hutchison, but the deal is paused due to an anti-trust investigation by the UK competition authorities into the sale of Three UK’s tower estate to Spain’s Cellnex.
Also this month, Reuters reported Vodafone Italy is looking to combine forces with Iliad’s Free in Italy.
In addition, Vodafone is thought to be in preliminary talks with Deutsche Telekom over the possibility of merging their towercos.
In December, BFM TV reported that Vodafone and Orange also mulled a merger between mid-2020 and early 2021, but the talks were abandoned due to opposition from the French government.