Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD) shares charged some 13% higher on Friday, trading at 110.45p, after it was revealed that French billionaire Xavier Niel bought a major holding in the international telco.
Niel, through an investment vehicle called Vega, agreed to buy around 16.2% of the company from Emirates Telecommunications in a £4.4bn cash deal.
The French businessman confirmed he did not intend to make an offer, and it was said that the investment had been made with the agreement of Vodafone's board.
Vega will draw on the Niel family group's substantial telecoms footprint to support the investment: the group operates across 26 countries in Europe and Latin America, with 139 million subscribers, 45,000 employees, annual revenues of approximately €24 billion and EBITDAaL of more than €9 billion, through assets including iliad, Salt, Monaco Telecom, Eir, Tele2 and Millicom.
Niel is also an active technology investor, having deployed approximately €4 billion into European artificial intelligence projects since 2022.
