David and thread,
Not sure if this has been posted:
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Thursday December 2 1999
MANNESMAN: Vodafone stock holders already own 40%.
By Richard Waters, William Lewis and Daniel Bogler in New York and Vincent Boland in London
Forty per cent of Mannesmann's shares are owned by Vodafone AirTouch shareholders, an overlap that may help to tilt the biggest-ever takeover battle in favour of the UK company.
News of the overlap came as the rival European wireless telephone carriers took their battle to the US in an effort to win over investors there.
Although no large US shareholders have yet taken sides publicly, a number are understood to have expressed informal early support for Vodafone's hostile bid.
These include Capital Group, which owns about 7 per cent of Mannesmann's stock, as well as mutual fund groups Fidelity and Putnam, each of which holds more than 2 per cent.
However, people close to Mannesmann cautioned against putting too much weight on such early preferences, particularly since Klaus Esser, the German company's chairman, does not begin presenting his own case in the US until today. "A disposition does not amount to a decision," one said.
The fact that many large US investors own shares in both companies could tilt them more towards Vodafone's offer. A loss by Vodafone would severely damage its European strategy, potentially hitting the share price.
The decision-making is likely to be complicated, however, by the exact amount of stock in the two companies owned by each investor.
Only about 8.5 per cent of Mannesmann's shares are in the hands of investors who have bigger stakes in Vodafone than in Mannesmann, according to the Mannesmann camp. Other holders of both shares have a bigger economic interest in Mannesmann and so are less likely to be motivated by a desire to protect the value of their Vodafone investments, according to this argument.
If Capital Group were to side with Vodafone, it would represent a big loss to Mannesmann. "They are in a difficult position," said one person close to the German company. "They have done fantastically well out of Mannesmann - it is probably the most successful call they ever made."
There were signs, meanwhile, that Mannesmann's efforts in Europe this week to win support for its independent course had paid off.
UK shareholders in Mannesmann said they were impressed by Mr Esser's arguments - particularly Mannesmann's projected growth rates of 30 per cent up to 2003, which many believe are conservative, and the strength of its franchises in Germany and Italy.
"He made a strong case for why Mannesmann would grow more strongly without Vodafone and that the current offer does not value it properly," said Adrian Darley, senior European portfolio manager at Gartmore.
ft.com
Ibexx
(long VOD again) |
