Citation :
Vodafone [LON:VOD], an FTSE-100 telecoms group, French rival Orange [EPA:ORA] held merger talks between mid-2020 and earlier this year but abandoned the potential deal due to opposition from the French government, The Times reported. The newspaper cited a report on the French language television station BFM TV, which said the talks ended because the French government, which holds a 23% stake in Orange, did not want to give up control and was concerned that the merged group would move its headquarters to London.
Orange and Vodafone refused to comment yesterday, 6 December, The Times report said.
Vodafone's Chief Executive Nick Read said last month that the company is looking to take part in consolidation of the European telecoms sector as previously reported.
Orange’s market capitalisation stood at EUR 24.73bn (GBP 21.03bn) at the close of trading in Paris on Monday, 6 December, while Vodafone’s market capitalisation stood at GBP 31.01bn.
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