Vodafone shuns offer from Iliad to tie up Italian businesses

Vodafone has rejected an offer from French telecoms company Iliad to merge their Italian businesses.

Iliad said it was “confident” it had presented “the best possible” offer to revive the sluggish Italian telecoms market.

Under revised proposals, Vodafone would have received 50 per cent of the share capital of the newly merged business, along with a cash payment of €6.6bn (£5.6bn) and a shareholder loan of €2bn (£1.7bn)

Iliad now plans to adopt a stand-alone strategy and “fiercely pursue” market share gains.

Following the statement, Vodafone shares fell over three per cent on Wednesday morning.

A Vodafone spokesperson said: “We are no longer in talks with Iliad, but our discussions with others continue.”

Vodafone boss Margherita Della Valle has been working on a turnaround strategy for three of the telco’s struggling businesses. 

It is currently trying to tie up its UK business with other UK operator Three. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a formal investigation into this last week.

In October last year, Vodafone sold off its Spanish business to London-based but European outfit Zegona for £3.6bn.