The United Kingdom has become the favorite hunting ground for French telecom magnates. After Patrick Drahi, the owner of SFR, who became BT’s leading shareholder in 2021, now with 18% of its capital, it is the turn of Xavier Niel (individual shareholder of the World) to set foot across the Channel. The founder and owner of Iliad revealed, Wednesday September 21, to have bought 2.5% of Vodafone, number three British telecoms.
The amount of the investment is estimated at 750 million pounds (857 million euros) at the current price of Vodafone shares on the London Stock Exchange. It was carried out by Atlas Investissement, a company independent of Iliad, but 100% owned by NJJ, Xavier Niel’s personal holding company. According to information from World, Atlas began to buy shares during the summer and it could rise to nearly 3% of the capital by the simple exercise of financial hedging instruments. Vodafone does not comment on the Atlas stake, but recalls having “a clear strategy and execute it”.
Saturated French market
Atlas explains having “identified Vodafone as an attractive investment opportunity, due to the quality of its asset portfolio and strong underlying trends in the global telecommunications sector”. Besides its position in the UK, Vodafone is present in ten other European countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy.
It is also the latter country which gave the idea of inviting itself to the capital of Vodafone. Also present in Italy, Iliad proposed to the British, in February, to buy back its Italian subsidiary. But Vodafone snubbed the €11.25 billion offer. Something to annoy Xavier Niel. “Given the 5% fall in the pound against the euro since February and the fall of Vodafone on the stock market [− 22 % depuis février]Xavier Niel thinks that, for the same amount, he could afford a nice share of the capital of the British and not be satisfied with the only Italian subsidiary “, analyzes a nearby source. Vodafone is worth £30 billion on the London Stock Exchange. Iliad has not been listed since fall 2021.
The founder of Iliad has had European ambitions for several years, in order to emancipate himself from a saturated French market. Free’s parent company is already present in Italy and Poland. Mr. Niel personally owns operators in Switzerland, Ireland, Monaco and Senegal.
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