Verizon Communications, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the U.S., reiterated lately that it was working to buy out partner Vodafone Group Plc from their Verizon Wireless joint venture for about US$40bil, British newspaper the Business reported.
We are focused on….working to acquire from Vodafone the remaining 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, Verizon said in a statement released in reaction to AT&T’s $67 billion takeover of BellSouth Corp.
Verizon is under pressure to consolidate control of Verizon Wireless in the wake of AT&T’s planned acquisition of BellSouth, which will give AT&T complete control of top US wireless company Cingular Wireless.
“We have made our interest in acquiring Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless clear,” a Verizon source told the paper. “The ball is now in Vodafone’s court.”
Verizon was not immediately available and Vodafone declined to comment on the matter.
The newspaper reported strife in the Vodafone boardroom after the company axed its marketing chief last week, one of several exits by directors closely identified with former chief executive Christopher Gent.
Vodafone is in talks to sell a controlling stake in its struggling Japanese unit to Softbank Corp.
Citing sources close to the company, the newspaper reported that outgoing Vodafone chairman Ian MacLaurin, due to step down in July, tried to oust chief executive Arun Sarin at a recent board meeting in Madrid.
A Vodafone spokesman denied there was a boardroom rift.
“There is no showdown between the chairman and the chief executive,” he said. “The CEO has the complete support of the board.”
Separately, Vodafone, whose shares rose nearly 6 percent amid hopes a U.S. exit would follow a deal in Japan, said its position with regard to Verizon Wireless had not changed. The company has previously said it has no current plans to sell its Verizon Wireless stake, which it views as an important asset.
No one is committed and they are not sure there is a way of doing it, but they are convinced of the potential value in a deal, one source told the paper.
The problem is that no one could put up much more than £5 bil in equity, and funding the rest would virtually drain the debt market, so they are looking at ways of leaving existing investors with a lot of the paper.
The Financial Mail reported that venture capital groups were discussing an “audacious” £100bil takeover of Vodafone, citing “senior City sources.”