Vodafone offered 11 euros ($11.80) a share, 2.8% more than Libertel’s closing price on January 10, the last trading day before Vodafone announced it would make the offer. However, the takeover looks set to be contested by Libertel’s board, after it rejected the offer last week saying that 11 euros per share didn’t adequately reflect the value of the company.
Vodafone responded by threatening to drop the Libertel offer, but in the end decided to allow the company’s shareholders to make the final decision. The offer is conditional on Vodafone ending up with at least 95% of Libertel’s shares. Under Dutch law, Vodafone can force Libertel shareholders to sell their shares if it gains 95% of the outstanding stock.
The Netherlands is one of the most saturated mobile markets in Europe, where five operators battle it out for 13.2 million subscribers. KPN Mobile and Libertel lead the market, with mmO2, T-Mobile and Orange bringing up the rear. Libertel has 3.28 million subscribers, and the deal values the company at 3.4bn euros ($3.65bn).
Vodafone expects to complete the transaction by the end of March, and has already announced that it intends to remove Libertel’s shares from the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.
Last week. Vodafone announced it was in talks to offload its fixed-line business in Japan, and it has finalized the terms of its offer to acquire the minority stakes of its subsidiaries in Sweden and Portugal. It has also raised its stake in Vodafone Spain to 100%.
Vodafone already controlled these companies, so the buy-outs were not crucial, but merely an attempt to simplify its European structure.
Source: Computerwire
