GERMANY: VODAFONE WANTS TO TAKE OVER SONERA-PAPER.
23 Jul 2000 12:08GMT
FRANKFURT, July 23 (Reuters) - British-based mobile phone operator Vodafone AirTouch Plc wants to take over Finnish telecoms operator Sonera , German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday.
Sonera declined to comment on the report.
"I decline to comment on all rumours concerning consolidation in the market place," Sonera chief spokesman Jari Jaakkola told Reuters.
Vodafone was not immediately available for comment.
A takeover would consolidate Vodafone's position in the European telecoms market following its acquisition earlier this year of Germany's Mannesmann AG, a move which also gave it assets in Italy.
Welt am Sonntag, which did not cite a source in its report, said it did not know the size of Vodafone's planned offer for Sonera.
Vodafone, Europe's largest telecoms operator with a market capitalisation of 187.7 billion pounds ($284 billion), dwarfs Sonera, which has a market capitalisation of 37.466 billion euros ($35 billion) based on Friday's closing share price.
The Welt am Sonntag report follows a report in Britain's Sunday Times in March that Vodafone was in talks to buy a 25-percent stake in Sonera. Finland, which holds a majority stake in Sonera, rejected the Sunday Times report.
Reports have also linked Sonera to British mobile phone operator Orange, which Vodafone sold to France Telecom in May, after acquiring it as part of its Mannesmann takeover.
((Frankfurt Newsroom +49 69 756525, frankfurt.newsroom@reuters.com)).
(C) Reuters Limited 2000. |
