Vodafone Shares Falls As Talks with Liberty Global Plc Are Confirmed

On Friday, the second leading mobile operator in the world, Vodafone, disclosed that it was having talks with the largest cable operator in Europe – Liberty Global Plc regarding. Earlier on, there were speculations that the two companies would enter into a merger, which could have turned them into a £100-billion telecoms powerhouse. This speculation caused Vodafone shares to rise by two percent. However, the disclosure that the talks were just to negotiate a possible exchange of certain assets, whose nature and location was not disclosed caused the shares to fall.

The merger would not have been a surprise as there has been a series of M&As between various cable operators and telecom companies in the region. While some analysts say that Liberty’s Virgin Media could be of interest to Vodafone, Liberty has pronounced that it does not have any interest in the emerging market business of the company. On Thursday, Liberty Global Plc shares dropped by 2.19 percent to sell at $54.60 on the NASDAQ. However, they soon surged by 6.21 percent. Vodafone Group Plc shares, on the other hand, dropped by 1.75 percent to sell at GBX 243.75 per share.