Dubai: The UAE telecom-tech enterprise e& (formerly Etisalat) has added another percentage point to its stake in UK’s Vodafone plc, to 14 per cent. The former was already the biggest external shareholder in the UK telco, ahead of the likes of Blackrock Fund Advisors (8.12 per cent) and Liberty Global (4.91 per cent).
Even with a 14 per cent stake in hand, e& said the ‘investment rationale’ remains unchanged, in that there are no offers been made to acquire Vodafone. e& now holds 3,790.7 million shares in the entity. It was last year that the first stake purchase was done, for $4 billion plus.
Vodafone too has in recent past too has insisted that no takeover bid is on the table. Market analysts have, however, been speculating heavily what the e& end game will look like vis-a-vis Vodafone. The UAE firm had recorded a strong set of numbers for its 2022 financials, and at this moment in time has made its intent clear of pursuing strategies across multiple fronts that would secure longer term growth.
