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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Wiggins who wrote (1961)	9/22/1999 4:41:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 3175

ANALYSIS-Vodafone seen sweet-talking Mannesmann By Kirstin Ridley LONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Having clinched two crucial U.S. deals in nine months, cellphone giant Vodafone AirTouch Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L) is expected to swing its spotlight back to Europe and cement a relationship with a key ally, Germany's Mannesmann AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: MMNG.F). Few analysts believe British-based Vodafone is poised to launch a bid for the fast-growing German group, although the world's biggest cellphone group has promised to don a white knight garb and ride to Mannesmann's rescue should it face a hostile bid. Vodafone, which bought San Francisco-based AirTouch in January, has been focused over the last two weeks on securing a joint venture with Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL - news), the East Coast U.S. operator it outbid for AirTouch. On Tuesday, the two agreed to merge U.S. operations and create a $70 billion cellphone giant. But the company's appetite for growth, which has been backed by a stellar performance of its shares, is unlikely to wane. ``Globally, the game does not stop here,' said Jo Oliver, telecoms analyst at Lehman Brothers. ``It's a case of let's move on to the next challenge, opportunity, issue.' Vodafone was not immediately available for comment. But a corporate financier said: ``Mannesmann is always going to be on Vodafone's list...there's obviously a very good fit there.' ROAMING DEALS TO BRIDGE DIFFERENCES Experts said on Wednesday they believed Vodafone was keen to move closer to its partner in Germany, Italy and France through securing ``preferential roaming' deals to maximise their share of traffic and possibly other deals such as consistent tariffing. Mobile groups are increasingly hoping to cash in on lucrative calls made by globe-trotting corporate clients. Under preferential roaming deals, a mobile handset defaults to a specific operator's network rather than the strongest available signal. ``Vodafone has most of the business customers in the UK and Mannesmann has most of the business customers in Germany,' said another analyst. "You can achieve 90 percent of the financial benefit -- which is the preferential roaming agreement. ``That's 90 percent of the whole shooting match. So maybe that is the route they will take.' BID SPECULATION STRAINS RELATIONS Analysts say relations between Mannesmann's ambitious Chief Executive Klaus Esser and his counterpart at Vodafone, Chris Gent, have been strained since newspapers raised the spectre of a Vodafone bid in the wake of its $62 billion acquisition of AirTouch. Mannesmann and Vodafone are partners in Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH and Omnitel Pronto Italia SpA, the leading mobile group in Germany and the number two carrier in Italy. Each also holds a stake in Societe Francaise du Radiotelefon, the number two cellular carrier in France. Some analysts believe Mannesmann might have decided against pursuing an acquisition of Vodafone's domestic competitor One2One, which was sold to arch-rival Deutsche Telekom AG in August, to leave open the possibility of a tie-up with Vodafone. ``Why pass up an opportunity to get 50 megahertz of spectrum and two million customers other than they were outbid by Deutsche Telekom -- or they decided to leave the door open to a Vodafone deal?' asked one analyst. Analysts believe Gent's deal with Bell Atlantic, which he secured by immediately building bridges after trumping Bell's bid for AirTouch, proves the company is adept at smooth talking and will embark on the ``softly softly' approach to woo the German group. ``The relationship seems to have been resurrected, typical Vodafone fashion, and I think that they will look to cement that relationship,' noted another analyst. ``But I don't think it will be done on an M&A (mergers and acquisition) basis.'

To: David Wiggins who wrote (1961)	9/23/1999 8:34:00 AM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Mannesmann to Split Telecommunications, Engineering Into 2 Separate Units By Sonja Heizmann Mannesmann to Split Into Telecoms, Engineering Units (Update1) (Adds analyst quote in 4th paragraph, detail throughout.) Dusseldorf, Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Mannesmann AG, the engineering company that owns Germany's biggest mobile phone network, said it will split off its telecommunications unit into a new company next year so the two businesses can grow separately. The telecommunications operation, which was set up in 1992, posted sales of 4.65 billion euros last year. The remainder of the company, the automotive and engineering units, together had sales of 12 billion euros. Mannesmann, which started life as the inventor of the seamless steel tube, has become the biggest competitor of former monopoly Deutsche Telekom AG in the German phone market. Earlier this year, Mannesmann bought Otelo's fixed line business from RWE AG and Veba AG as well as Olivetti SpA's stake in Omnitel and Infostrada. ``This step is Mannesmann's preparation for a link with Vodafone AirTouch,' said Frank Wellendorf, an analyst at WestLB Panmure in Dusseldorf, who rates the stock ``outperform.' He expects Vodafone AirTouch Plc., the world's largest wireless phone service operator, to take over Mannesmann's phone unit. ``The two companies' geographical positioning makes them ideal partners.' The company's shares surged as much as 11 euros, or 7.8 percent, to 151.9 euros. Mannesmann's units will have separate stock exchange listings from 2001 and it expects both to be part of Germany's benchmark DAX 30 index, it said. The split-up plan has been submitted to the supervisory board, Mannesmann said, and a decision is expected at the beginning of next year. From the end of next year, the two units will be managed separately, it said.