French billionaire becomes Vodafone’s largest shareholder with £4.4bn stake

Xavier Niel buys 16% through investment vehicle Vega after Emirati telecoms group sells shareholding The French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel has become Vodafone’s largest shareholder after buying a 16% stake for £4.4bn. On Friday, the Emirati telecoms group e&, which first took a stake worth £3.3bn in Vodafone in 2022, announced the sale of its entire shareholding for 112.5p a share. Niel, who founded the telecoms company Iliad, has bought the stake through his family investment vehicle Vega at a 15% premium to Vodafone’s share price on Thursday. Niel said that Vega, which has been set up solely to house his stake in Vodafone, intends to be a long-term minority shareholder in the telecoms company. In recent years, Vodafone has restructured its business – including selling its Italian and Spanish operations and its 50% stake in its Dutch joint venture – as well as merging with Three to create the UK’s largest mobile operator. Niel, who had previously sold the 2.5% stake he took in Vodafone through his investment vehicle Atlas Investissement in 2022, said Vodafone is now a “compelling investment opportunity”. “As a simpler, more focused business, Vodafone is rea