Hands0n
12th March 2006, 03:10 PM
A slightly older item of news which I have elected to put up for interest simply because of the reference to Sir John Bond, current Chairman of HSBC which this year posted the largest annual profit of any UK business in history. Can Sir John repeat this at Vodafone? For sure, he has the required business accumen - will he be allowed to flex it?
7 March 2006
VODAFONE was fighting on multiple fronts today with renewed pressure for it to make a fast exit from the US, the expected sale of its troubled Japanese offshoot and reported ructions in the boardroom.
Vodafone's US partner, AT&T, said last night it was 'focused on working to acquire from Vodafone the remaining 45% of Verizon Wireless'. This came as part of its presentation following Sunday's announced $67bn (£38bn) takeover of BellSouth.
Sarin came under pressure to sell the minority stake in the US mobiles business last year and appeared to soften Vodafone's traditional stance when he said: 'It's not a question of no, never, not at any price. But we're not in a hurry.'
Analysts and investors said this stance may have weakened further after Vodafone revealed it is in talks with SoftBank that could lead to its selling its Japanese operation for up to £7bn.
Estimates of the value of Vodafone's stake in Verizon range from £20bn to £30bn, which would allow the company to make a massive return to shareholders or give it enough to buy a separate US business. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in the US is said to be up for sale.
But any Verizon sale is also likely to leave the British group with a hefty tax bill. It first bought into the States in 1999 and, after a three-way merger, gained its holding in Verizon in 2000. That means it is sitting on a massive capital gain.
It is also possible that, if Vodafone is prepared to offload Japan and the US businesses, it could look again at operations in Switzerland, Italy and France where it does not have full control.
None of this is likely to be resolved until chairman Lord MacLaurin is replaced by Sir John Bond, fresh from his recordbreaking profits at HSBC yesterday.
Two non-executive directors of Vodafone are said to have called on MacLaurin to step down before the company's annual meeting in July. There is also criticism of a £500,000 golden farewell package he is due to collect.
He has been a director since 1997 and was a close ally of former chief executive Sir Christopher Gent. Some directors are reported to see them as the old guard, and Gent is said to have considered voting against the reappointment of Sarin and the appointment of new finance director Andy Halford.
Bond, having reported his final figures at HSBC, will very shortly be free to spend more of his time at Vodafone's Newbury headquarters, although insiders cast doubt on any change to the formal succession timetable.
Article Source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=407442&in_page_id=2
7 March 2006
VODAFONE was fighting on multiple fronts today with renewed pressure for it to make a fast exit from the US, the expected sale of its troubled Japanese offshoot and reported ructions in the boardroom.
Vodafone's US partner, AT&T, said last night it was 'focused on working to acquire from Vodafone the remaining 45% of Verizon Wireless'. This came as part of its presentation following Sunday's announced $67bn (£38bn) takeover of BellSouth.
Sarin came under pressure to sell the minority stake in the US mobiles business last year and appeared to soften Vodafone's traditional stance when he said: 'It's not a question of no, never, not at any price. But we're not in a hurry.'
Analysts and investors said this stance may have weakened further after Vodafone revealed it is in talks with SoftBank that could lead to its selling its Japanese operation for up to £7bn.
Estimates of the value of Vodafone's stake in Verizon range from £20bn to £30bn, which would allow the company to make a massive return to shareholders or give it enough to buy a separate US business. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in the US is said to be up for sale.
But any Verizon sale is also likely to leave the British group with a hefty tax bill. It first bought into the States in 1999 and, after a three-way merger, gained its holding in Verizon in 2000. That means it is sitting on a massive capital gain.
It is also possible that, if Vodafone is prepared to offload Japan and the US businesses, it could look again at operations in Switzerland, Italy and France where it does not have full control.
None of this is likely to be resolved until chairman Lord MacLaurin is replaced by Sir John Bond, fresh from his recordbreaking profits at HSBC yesterday.
Two non-executive directors of Vodafone are said to have called on MacLaurin to step down before the company's annual meeting in July. There is also criticism of a £500,000 golden farewell package he is due to collect.
He has been a director since 1997 and was a close ally of former chief executive Sir Christopher Gent. Some directors are reported to see them as the old guard, and Gent is said to have considered voting against the reappointment of Sarin and the appointment of new finance director Andy Halford.
Bond, having reported his final figures at HSBC, will very shortly be free to spend more of his time at Vodafone's Newbury headquarters, although insiders cast doubt on any change to the formal succession timetable.
Article Source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=407442&in_page_id=2