LONDON—Vodafone Group plc’s stock jumped as much as 3 percent in early trading Tuesday, amid fresh rumors that the European telco giant may sell its 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless—or that several telecom companies, including Verizon Communications Inc., may band together to make an offer for Vodafone.
The Verizon Wireless talk centered on a report by United Kingdom-based AFX Newswire that Verizon Communications was going to increase its offer for Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless to $50 billion. Press reports had pegged an earlier informal offer at $40 billion, citing an unidentified Verizon official.
MarketWatch reported that J.P. Morgan upgraded its rating of Vodafone to neutral, saying that a divestiture of the Verizon Wireless stake appears to be growing more likely. Some investors have been pressuring Vodafone to sell its stake in Verizon Wireless to prop up the company’s weak stock price. Vodafone recently agreed to sell its floundering Japanese operations to Internet broadband company Softbank for $15.4 billion. However, Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Arun Sarin recently reiterated that his company is “very happy” with its position in the U.S. and has no plans to sell the stake.
Meanwhile, other unconfirmed reports bubbled with rumors that Verizon, Spanish operator Telefonica and private-equity firm Blackstone Group were considering making a bid for Vodafone.
