Still no takeover in the offing?
e&, the UAE-headquartered operator formerly known as Etisalat, has again increased its stake in Vodafone, taking its holding to 14%. In January, it increased the stake to 12%.
e& caught the market by surprise when it first bought a stake, 9.8%, May 2022, and has then increased it several times.
The renamed operator has reiterated many times that it has no intention of mounting a takeover, but rumours were rife at Mobile World Congress.
However, it is far from the only party that clearly views Vodafone’s future as being rosy: Liberty Global invested about £1.2 billion for 4.9% stake recently, while last September, the French billionaire controller of Iliad, Xavier Niel, took a 2.5% stake through his investment arm.