Vodafone
Forward yield on shares 5.5%
To quote the great Yogi Berra, the baseball player who died last week, it ain’t over till it’s over. Vodafone’s statement announcing the end of talks with John Malone’s Liberty Global was carefully worded to rule out “a possible exchange of selected assets”, the same wording used when the talks were first announced in June. This, analysts noted, does not rule out an eventual merger of the two companies.
The news should not have come as a surprise. Mr Malone had indicated a fortnight ago that the ensuing three months of dialogue had not moved the deal much closer.
It was always going to be difficult. The aim was to put together the two companies’ businesses in Germany and