Vodafone In The United Kingdom Mulls Merger With Three: The Regulator’s Response Is Positive
By Nation World News Desk
Vodafone is at a financial crossroads. Earnings statements don’t end reporting good data, although it’s still in the green, and shares continue to slide in value. Despite this, the company continues to study potential corporate operations in all of its markets.
One of these markets is the local market, the United Kingdom, where Vodafone is negotiating a merger with Three, owned by CK Hutchison. In some statements made by the management team during the general meeting of shareholders, the company confirmed that “the merger is still under negotiation” and that “we will announce the results when they are available”.
“Importantly, the feedback we have received from OFCOM, the UK telecoms regulator, has been overwhelmingly positive.”
In this sense, the Hong Kong firm has made sure that “importantly, the feedback we have received from OFCOM, the British telecommunications regulator, is entirely positive.”
Just this week, Margherita Della Valle, the new CEO of Vodafone Group, has indicated during the presentation of British Telecom’s results that plans to merge its business with the three mobile telephone networks are “progressing”, but not yet. Has come to come to fruition, so it is not expected that there will be an imminent agreement.
The two companies have been discussing the operation since at least October 2022 to combine the third and fourth largest networks in the United Kingdom. The operation was expected to materialize in the first quarter of the year, but a lack of stable leadership at Vodafone and some disagreements over valuation have slowed talks.
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The operation “will take as long as is necessary to reach a good agreement”
Along these lines, Della Valle has stressed that the operation will “take as long as necessary to reach a good agreement” and that the alliance has “sound reason” and will be beneficial to customers.
Despite this, they insist a transaction with CK Hutchison cannot be agreed, a deal that would anyway face harsh scrutiny from Britain’s competition watchdog.
