Deal looms on Verizon for Vodafone
MOBILE phone giant Vodafone insisted this weekend that it had no plans to curb its hunger for takeovers following the departure of chief executive Sir Chris Gent.
Many investors had hoped that Gent's decision to quit next year would see Vodafone announcing that its deal-making days were over. But chairman Lord MacLaurin said the company was not dropping its strategy of gaining control of firms where it has only a minority stake.
He said: 'If the right opportunity comes up, the board will discuss it. Vodafone is the world's strongest company in the industry and we have not dropped the strategy.'
The most likely target for Gent's successor, Arun Sarin, is US mobile group Verizon, where Vodafone has a 45% stake.
Any deal to gain control of Verizon would dwarf the £8bn shareholders were recently prepared to let Vodafone pay for France's Cegetel.
MacLaurin dismissed talk that Gent decided to quit early after investors made it clear that they did not want Vodafone to raise its offer to buy Cegetel. He said: 'We spoke to investors and they didn't want us to raise the bid, the board didn't want to - and Chris Gent didn't want to.'
Analysts said Sarin stood a better chance than Gent of making a deal in the US. One said: 'Gent was perceived as arrogant and that didn't always help to win over investors, despite his record in building Vodafone over 15 years.'
Another said: 'The City would have to be convinced that should embark on another major deal.' He said there was a feeling that the £113bn takeover of German phone company Mannesmann in 2000 had not delivered value for money - 'but America is a huge potential market and there is a lot to play for'.
Indian-born Sarin ran the American Airtouch telecoms business that Vodafone bought for £24bn in 2000, but he bowed out when Verizon won the upper hand in the wireless venture.
He remained a non-executive of Vodafone, but was appointed to the top job last week. MacLaurin said: 'You can't say Arun is just a dealmaker. He's a great all-round businessman. He was chosen after we scoured the world and saw four very strong candidates.'
