C&W Worldwide Secures Extension Deadline For Vodafone
19 Avril 2012 - 6:36PM
Dow Jones News
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (CW.LN) said Thursday that
the U.K. Takeover Panel has agreed for a third time to extend the
deadline by which Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) had to submit a takeover
offer for the U.K. telecommunications operator or walk away, a day
after Tata Communications Ltd. (TCL) abandoned its takeover
efforts.
Just 25 minutes before the deadline was set to expire Thursday
at 1600 GMT, C&W Worldwide confirmed the extension had been
granted by the U.K. takeover panel--which regulates merger and
acquisition activity among publicly traded U.K. companies--until
April 23 at 1100 GMT.
In a brief statement, C&W Worldwide said that "advanced
discussions with Vodafone are on-going with a view to establishing
whether or not they might result in a formal offer for the company"
that the board would be willing to recommend. But it stressed that
"there can be no certainty that any offer will be made, nor as to
the terms of any offer."
A C&W Worldwide spokesman declined to comment beyond the
statement. A spokesman for Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile
operator by revenue, declined to comment.
C&W Worldwide owns the U.K.'s biggest fiber network
dedicated to businesses. It also has an international cable network
that reaches across Europe, India and throughout Asia. But it has
had a tough time since its spinoff from parent Cable & Wireless
PLC in 2010, suffering a sliding stock price and several management
changes.
After the close of trade in London on Wednesday, Tata
Communications of India said it won't make an offer for C&W
Worldwide after failing to agree on a price. The disappointing news
pushed C&W World's shares down as much as 24% during Thursday's
trade on the London bourse. C&W Worldwide shares Thursday
closed 3 pence lower, or 8.2%, at 34 pence, valuing the company at
GBP934 million.
Vodafone shares closed 2 pence higher, or 1.4%, at 172 pence,
valuing the operator at GBP85.42 billion.
Vodafone on Feb. 13 confirmed it was in the very early stages of
evaluating a takeover bid for C&W Worldwide--which counts
U.K.-based telecommunications operator BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) as
one of its biggest rivals--following press speculation. A few weeks
later, Tata Communications said it too was mulling a bid for the
company.
For Vodafone, the acquisition would support margins and improve
network quality in the U.K. It would also support the global
enterprise business, in which Vodafone is currently investing,
according to brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein.
- By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290;
lilly.vitorovich@dowjones.com
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