Vodafone's veteran dealmaker Finegold to retire from board

Vodafone's veteran dealmaker Warren Finegold will retire at the end of June, after a glittering history with the company that began when he advised on the mobile group's initial public offering in 1988 when at Goldman Sachs.

But Finegold, currently group business development director at the FTSE 100 company, has agreed to continue acting as an adviser to the board and executive committee on future deals.

He was hired by previous chief executive Arun Sarin to Vodafone's executive committee in April 2006 and led the $130bn disposal of its stake in Verizon Wireless, the acquisitions of Kabel Deutschland and Ono and the acquisition of Hutchison's interest in India.

Prior to this, Finegold worked closely with the company as part of his managing director role at UBS.

His glittering list of successful deals with the company include the mammoth hostile acquisition of Germany's Mannesmann that at $181bn was world’s biggest ever M&A transaction.

Current chief executive Vittorio Colao said: "Warren has been an outstanding colleague and adviser, who has made an immense contribution to Vodafone over nearly thirty years.

"I would like to thank him for his wisdom, insight, commitment and valued strategic advice. I wish him every happiness in his retirement and look forward to his continuing involvement as an adviser to Vodafone in the years ahead."