STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Vodafone Group plc and Ireland’s Eircom plc reached an agreement calling for Vodafone to acquire the business of Eircell, Eircom’s mobile operator, for about $4.1 billion in stock.
According to the deal, Eircell will be demerged from Eircom into a newly incorporated company, Eircell 2000 plc, followed by a recommended offer for Eircell 2000, to be made by UBS Warburg on behalf of Vodafone. Eircom shareholders will receive one Eircell 2000 share for each Eircom share held at the time of the demerger, said Vodafone.
The offer for Eircell 2000 will be 0.9478 Vodafone shares for every two Eircell 2000 shares. The demerger and offer will be recommended by the Eircom board, and the offer will be conditional on more than half of Eircom’s shareholders voting in favor of both the demerger and the Vodafone offer as well as regulatory approvals from the European Commission and Irish regulatory authorities.
Eircell has an estimated 60-percent market share in the Republic of Ireland, with more than 1.2 million subscribers. The offer is expected to be completed in the first half of 2001.
In other news, Vodafone announced it will acquire a 15-percent equity stake in Japanese telecommunications heavyweight Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. for about $2 billion.
Vodafone, already a shareholder in the J-Phone Group, will acquire an 8.6-percent stake in the company from JR West and a 6.4-percent stake from JR Central.
The move is the latest in a line of big deals for Vodafone. The company’s chief executive officer, Chris Gent, was named RCR Wireless News’ Person of the Year for 2000.
