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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting

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To: Ramsey Su who started this subject	1/4/2003 6:16:58 PM
From: quartersawyer	Read Replies (1) of 196602

Continuous Vodafone/Verizon rumors ---------------- Vodafone plans $20bn sell-off to fund bid for US competitor By Jason Nissé 05 January 2003 Vodafone is planning to sell its $20bn (£12.5bn) interest in its US venture Verizon Wireless in order to make a bid to take full control of a rival US mobile phone operator. US sources say Vodafone has shown interest in both Voicestream, the American mobile arm of debt-laden Deutsche Telekom, and AT&T Wireless, whose largest shareholder is Jap- anese operator NTT Docomo. To fund a bid, Vodafone will exercise its option to sell its 44.3 per cent interest in Verizon Wireless to the majority shareholder Verizon Communications. Under the shareholder agreement, Vodafone can force Verizon to buy half the stake this July for $10bn and the rest of the holding a few months later for the same amount. Such a move would enable Vodafone both to raise cash for a US bid and to avoid anti-trust problems if it bought another American mobile phone business. Analysts in the UK have speculated that Arun Sarin, the former head of Vodafone's US operation who will take over as group chief executive this spring, wants to expand Vodafone's operations in the US. However, the group's relations with Verizon Wireless were strained when the US business chose to adopt the CDMA mobile standard rather than the GSM version used by Vodafone in the rest of the world. US sources say Vodafone wants to use GSM in the US, of which the two main users are Voicestream and AT&T Wireless. Deutsche Telekom has said it wants to cut its €64bn (£41bn) debt. Chief executive Helmut Sihler said it was keeping all its options open over Voicestream, which it bought for $50bn in 1999. It is understood to have held talks about selling the business to US operator Cingular and is expected to put the business up for sale formally early this year. US sources say Vodafone could buy the business for less than $30bn, a relative bargain compared to prices Vodafone has paid in the past. AT&T Wireless is also believed to be in play, with NTT keen to release funds to shore up its Japanese operations. The company is valued at $17bn on the New York Stock Exchange and has debts of $14bn. Vodafone would not comment on its US strategy plans. However, the group's chairman, Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, has previously told The Independent on Sunday that what to do in the US is high on its agenda and a decision may be needed before Mr Sarin takes over at the start of April. news.independent.co.uk

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