Banking & Finance UAE telco increases stake in UK’s Vodafone to 12% By Pramod Kumar January 18, 2023, 6:47 AM Vodafone e& said that the rationale remains unchanged from May 2022 when it purchased a 9.8% stake in Vodafone Group UAE telecom operator e&, formerly Emirates Telecommunications Group Company, has increased its stake in the UK’s Vodafone Group. In a statement published on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the telco said it had purchased a total of 3.272 billion shares, representing 12 percent of Vodafone’s issued share capital, excluding treasury shares. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. “Executed at what we believe is an attractive valuation, the investment rationale is unchanged from our announcement on May 14, 2022,” the statement said. The move was to obtain significant exposure to a global leader, leverage potential commercial partnership and realise future return on its investment, it added. In May last year, e& acquired a 9.8 percent stake in Vodafone for $4.4 billion, days after it announced plans to expand into new markets in Africa, Europe and Asia. The telecom firm had said it had no intention of making an offer to buy Vodafone, saying it fully supports the company’s current business strategy and its board and existing management team.
