Vodafone sale sees shares jump
Vodafone shares today jumped in response to last night's 7.75 billion deal to sell its stake in France's SFR telecoms group to Vivendi.
The UK mobiles giant's stock gained 3p to 182p on the deal for the 44% holding in France's second biggest telecom player. For Vivendi, it gives the group full control over SFR.
Vivendi said it would also pay Vodafone an extra 200 million, reflecting the generation of cash between January and July 2011.
The two telecom giants have been negotiating the deal for months, having worked together on SFR for about a decade.
It is the largest sale Vodafone has done to date as part of its strategy to sell the minority stakes it does not control and retrench after a decade-long international expansion.
Responding to investor pressure to clean up its portfolio, Vodafone has already sold its minority stake in China Mobile and begun a sale process of the nearly 25% it owns of Poland's Polkomte.
