Vodafone turns down multibillion-euro merger proposal with Iliad in Italy

31 January 2024 , 14:28

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Vodafone has rejected a merger with Iliad's Italian business (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Vodafone has turned down a multibillion-euro merger proposal from France's Iliad to combine their Italian operations and make the biggest mobile phone firm in Italy.

Iliad revealed that its significant offer, disclosed in December, wasn't accepted by Vodafone's board, despite it being "the best possible business combination". Following the announcement, Vodafone's stocks took a tumble.

Still, Iliad promised to keep fortifying its Italian presence while striving to buy up more market share from its competitors. Iliad's detailed statement read: "Following Iliad's offer dated December 18 2023, the Iliad Group submitted a further, revised proposal to Vodafone Group for the merger of Iliad Italia and Vodafone Italia in a new entity in order to create the most innovative telecom challenger for Italy," adding that "Vodafone Group has failed to accept this offer."

The French company additionally added: "The Iliad Group is confident that the offer presented was the best possible business combination to benefit a struggling Italian market and telecommunications industry." Following the rejection, Vodafone's shares saw around a 3% reduction at midday trade.

Finally, Vodafone made its position clear, commenting: "We said in December that we are exploring options with several parties in Italy. We are no longer in talks with Iliad, but our discussions with others continue." Iliad's offer, if accepted, would have given Vodafone a whopping 6.6 billion euro (£5.6 billion), creating Italy's largest mobile operator.

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The Italian venture would have been equally owned by both companies.

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Lawrence Matheson