Dubai: The UAE tech giant e& has raised its stake in UK’s Vodafone Group to a total of 3.27 million shares, which make up 12 per cent of the latter’s issued share capital (excluding treasury shares).
Executed at what we believe is an attractive valuation, the investment rationale is unchanged from our announcement on the 14th of May 2022,” said the UAE company. The transaction is ‘specifically to obtain significant exposure to a global leader, and leverage potential commercial partnership and realise future return on our investment’.
It was in May 2022 that e& made its initial splash with Vodafone, spending $4 billion plus for a 9.8 per cent stake. It was then increased to 11 per cent in December. After its corporate and branding switch to e& from Etisalat Group, the Abu Dhabi headquartered company has been keenly expanding its global reach, either through its own network investments or through strategic stake buys.
e& now has a more than 50 per cent stake in Morocco's Maroc Telecom. In its home market, e& is a promoter shareholder in the digital bank Wio, and has also in the recent past acquired controlling stake in the OTT platform Starzplay Arabia.
