Vodafone gets investor green light for Kabel Deutschland deal


Vodafone’s
proposed £6.5bn takeover of Kabel Deutschland will go ahead, after at least 75% of the German cable operator’s shareholders green lighted the deal.

The deal indicates that Vodafone is shifting away from its heavy focus on mobile services in Europe. Vodafone now expects to rubber stamp the deal by the end of this month.

For the deal to go ahead, at least 75% of Kabel Deutschland’s investors had to approve it. But the deal will still need EU approval.

Vodafone is looking to increase its presence in Europe by selling more fixed-line broadband and phone subscriptions. One likely significant benefit of the deal is that Vodafone will be able to use Kabel Deutschland’s cable network which will reduce costs of running Vodafone’s mobile network in Germany, as it will no longer need to use third parties

In total, the deal gives Vodafone access to over 32m mobile phone customers, five million broadband and 7.6m TV customers in Germany. The deal follows Vodafone selling of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications, the US telecoms group.