Verizon and At&t planning joint takeover of Vodafone

[Rawvega]

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/verizon-atandt-plan-joint-takeover-bid-for-vodafone-report--934768

 

For around $245 Billion. Essentially Verizon gets the other 45% of Verizon Wireless and At&t gets everything outside of the US. Amazing how these supposed competitors usually can work so well together....

 

uesday 2 April 2013 | 11:24 CET | News

 

The two largest American operators, Verizon and AT&T, are putting together a takeover bid for Vodafone, the Financial Times' Alphaville blog reports, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The bid would offer an around 40 percent premium to Vodafone's current share price, or about 260 pence per share. This would value Vodafone at about USD 245 billion, making it one of the biggest takeovers ever.

 

Barclays US has been tasked with putting together the potential transaction, the report said. Under the proposal, Verizon would buy Vodafone's 45 percent stake in their Verizon Wireless joint venture, while AT&T takes over Vodafone's non-US assets. All the companies declined to comment.

 

The proposed takeover would resolve Verizon's long-held desire to take full control of its mobile operations. For AT&T, it would gain a new growth market to help offset slowing growth in the US, where its takeover attempts such as T-Mobile USA have faced regulatory obstacles.

[miguell2]

I don't know how I feel about that... Anyone has anymore insights? How would it affect sprint and other roaming partners? I understand that places like Europe has many more carriers that here.

[WiWavelength]

Was it still April 1 somewhere in the South Pacific when this article was published?

 

AJ

[JeffDTD]

Was it still April 1 somewhere in the South Pacific when this article was published?

 

AJ

 

Unfortunately, it doesnt seem like a joke.

 

Now, the elephant in the room is whether England, the european union or whomever the appropriate governing body would approve a takeover. A great deal of scrutiny would be shown to it.

 

There would also be nothing exciting about it from an american consumer perspective. ATT isnt going to give you super cheap roaming rates or pass their savings along to the consumer.

[WiWavelength]

VZ would likely pay about $45 billion for the outstanding 45 percent of VZW. That would leave AT&T on the hook for $200 billion for the rest of Vodafone. AT&T would have to leverage itself to the hilt to pay that bill. So, I say go right ahead. Let AT&T drown itself in debt and turn the focus of its sadism overseas instead of here.

 

AJ

[jefbal99]

VZ would likely pay about $45 billion for the outstanding 45 percent of VZW. That would leave AT&T on the hook for $200 billion for the rest of Vodafone. AT&T would have to leverage itself to the hilt to pay that bill. So, I say go right ahead. Let AT&T drown itself in debt and turn the focus of its sadism overseas instead of here.

 

AJ

 

For Verizon to be wholly owned would be a good thing for them, but i can't see the positive for at&t here. As AJ said, they would have to leverage themselves to the eyeballs to make this work. If they start raising prices to cover the vig on their loans, then they will lose customers (domestically and internationally). The international mobile phone market is much different than the US market, not sure what at&t would be bringing to the table.

[S4GRU]

VZ would likely pay about $45 billion for the outstanding 45 percent of VZW. That would leave AT&T on the hook for $200 billion for the rest of Vodafone. AT&T would have to leverage itself to the hilt to pay that bill. So, I say go right ahead. Let AT&T drown itself in debt and turn the focus of its sadism overseas instead of here.

 

AJ

 

I agree. Distract and defund AT&T. Sounds pretty good to me. Plus, the European market is far more competitive than the U.S. Let's see how AT&T handles that.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[irev210]

I agree. Distract and defund AT&T. Sounds pretty good to me. Plus, the European market is far more competitive than the U.S. Let's see how AT&T handles that.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

 

They will quickly attempt to standardized locked devices that only operate on AT&T and be as anti-competitive as possible.

 

Business as usual, basically.

 

I hope it backfires :

[MacinJosh]

Die, AT&T, die! Hahahaha!

 

/end rant

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[JeffDTD]

I hope it backfires :

 

That smiley made me think of Verizon. I'd like to have a red devil smiley and a blue devil smiley for appropriate usage.

 

Since any bid ATT made to acquire Vodafone would require Voda's share of Verizon be divested, I have to wonder if Verizon isn't secretly also smiling at the thought of ATT leveraging itself up to its eyeballs. If Verizon felt challenged by ATT's moves on Voda or even jealous, one might wonder why Verizon chooses to partner with ATT and buy their share at face value instead of refusing to cooperate with ATT, as lack of cooperation would make the acquisition even more difficult for ATT. Further, if Verizon felt compelled to protect Voda, they have cash on hand to infuse in Voda in return for any number of incentives.

 

Flipside, Verizon may be more desperate to rid itself of Vodafone than it is to be adversarial towards ATT.

[kckid]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100610454

 

 

Verizon - The wireless telecommunications company denied an earlier report that it is looking to partner with AT&T to acquire British cellphone company Vodafone. However, the Dow component said it would be a willing buyer of Vodafone's current 45-percent share of Verizon's wireless venture. Vodafone dropped in extended-hours trading.

[Fraydog]

An AT&T-Vodafone deal would take another T-Mobile attempt off the table in 2017 because of the great debt load. That still doesn't take a potential takeover of Verizon of something else off the table, unfortunately.

 

Then we have SoftBank's loads of money coming in soon... dare I mention a magenta takeover/joint venture? Or is SoftBank too early in the game for that?

[Mobilesolutions]

The inter-twinings of Verizon/AT&T is borderline incestual.

[WiWavelength]

That smiley made me think of Verizon. I'd like to have a red devil smiley and a blue devil smiley for appropriate usage.

 

Here you go. Randall Stephenson incarnate...

 

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

I didn't know Randall Stephenson was an alum of Duke.

[WiWavelength]

I didn't know Randall Stephenson was an alum of Duke.

 

I think you mean that Randall Stephenson is dook.

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

 

I think you mean that Randall Stephenson is dook.

 

AJ

 

Close enough when you consider Duke is dook.