Vodafone, the world’s second largest mobile operator, has ended talks with Liberty Global about an exchange of assets. Shares of the wireless carrier fell.
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Back in June, the telecoms giant had entered discussions with Liberty regarding “a possible exchange of selected assets between the two companies”.
The talks included Liberty Global’s German cable assets, and cable assets elsewhere in Europe, according to the person close to the matter.
He told Bloomberg that “conceptually there could be some real value created but realistically we haven’t been able to figure out away to do that that’s mutually successful”.
In today’s trading, Vodafone shares were down 3.3 percent at 210.55p, as of 08:31 BST.
Liberty Global, down 8 percent in the same period, closed on Friday at $48.
Paul Marsch, an analyst at Berenberg Bank in London. Vodafone denied that the talks included the option of a merger but analysts said the United Kingdom firm could have raised £30bn by selling its operations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific to make a merger with Liberty possible.
A deal between the companies would have reshaped Europe’s telecommunications and cable industries and also attracted antitrust scrutiny.
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In a short statement this morning, Vodafone confirmed that the talks have now been terminated. Besides Germany, Malone has said the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are key European markets for expansion.
