Vodafone rejected a preliminary offer for its Italian business from Iliad and Apax Partners worth more than €11bn ($12.5bn). Vodafone said that the offers were not in the best interest of its shareholders, adding that it was pursuing several value accretive deals. Reuters reported in January that Vodafone and Iliad discussed combining their businesses in the cut-throat Italian market before the latter came up with an outright buyout offer. Reuters reports that Iliad appeared to indicate it would not raise its all cash offer, calling it a “very high” premium for Vodafone. Jefferies said that the offer price tag implied an enterprise value-to-core earnings multiple at an “underwhelming” 7x.
Vodafone’s dollar bonds were slightly lower with its 5.125% 2081s down 0.5 points to 94, yielding 5.54%.
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