Vodafone bid for Kabel Deutschland?
February 13, 2013
Vodafone is said to be considering a bid for Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s largest cable operator. The UK MNO will table a proposal before the end of the week according to unnamed sources in the FT.
Shares in Kabel Deutschland rose 12 per cent to €71.40 in Frankfurt, valuing the company at more than €5.6 billion. Vodafone has been linked with various potential bids over the past year following management comments that it could look to become partners with cable operators across Europe to gain access to their fibre networks.
Vodafone is the only major telecoms operator in Europe not to have an incumbent fixed-line network which could put it at a disadvantage when competing against companies that are already bundling mobile services with TV and broadband.
Vittorio Colao, Vodafone chief executive, told the Financial Times following its third-quarter results last week that it continued to look at the cable market in Europe. He said that the group would either strike commercial agreements with cable operators, invest in its own fibre networks as it had done already in Portugal and other countries, or “look at existing assets” to acquire.
The FT says news of the potential bid for Kabel Deutschland was first reported in Germany’s Manager Magazin.