Iliad founder buys 2.5% Vodafone stake
September 21, 2022
Xavier Niel, founder of the Iliad mobile group, has acquired an approximately 2.5 per cent stake in Vodafone Group through his Atlas Investissement investment vehicle. Vodafone stock jumped on the news.
Niel has investments in the telecoms sector in nine countries in Europe with nearly 50 million active subscribers combined and more than €10bn of revenues. He is the owner of Iliad, a telco challenger in France, Italy and Poland as well as NJJ Holding, an investor in telecoms assets including Switzerland and Ireland.
Atlas Investissement said in a staement that it “is supportive of Vodafone’s publicly-stated intention to pursue consolidation opportunities in selected geographies, as well as its efforts in infrastructure separation”.
Atlas Investissement’s view is that there are opportunities to accelerate both the streamlining of Vodafone’s footprint and the separation of its infrastructure assets, further reduce costs, improve profitability, accelerate broadband development in Germany and other geographies and enhance focus on innovation.