Iliad (Free) makes an offer to buy Vodafone Italy
Iliad, Free’s parent company, is looking to expand in Italy and has made an offer to buy Vodafone Italy. According to Bloomberg, the group submitted its offer last week. There is no information on the amount.
Soon the takeover of Vodafone Italy by Iliad?
Vodafone is currently looking for merger opportunities in the UK, Spain, Italy and Portugal, chief executive Nick Read said. Activist investor Cevian Capital AB has taken a stake in Vodafone and is pushing for change, including selling some deals or doing share buybacks.
Free has already tried to merge in France, but it didn’t work. In particular, there was talk of a merger with Orange. The project was quite well advanced, but it was finally buried. To date, France remains with four national operators.
Iliad is already present in Italy as an operator. The group launched its first box on site three weeks ago. “We want to launch the same revolution in landlines as the one we launched in mobile telephony”said Benedetto Levi, CEO of Iliad Italia.
Iliad is also considering buying a competing operator in Italy if the opportunity arises, Benedetto Levi said. But for the moment, no Italian operator has reacted publicly to the information circulating.
