Vodafone rejects revised Iliad offer to merge Italian businesses

The French telecoms firm said in December that it had submitted a proposal to merge the Italian businesses. The new offer would have given Vodafone €6.6bn in cash and a €2bn shareholder loan. Meanwhile, Iliad would have received €400m in cash and a €2bn loan.

"The Iliad Group is confident that the offer presented was the best possible business combination to benefit a struggling Italian market and telecommunications industry," it said.

Vodafone shares ended down 2.1% at 67.32p.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "This is the second time Vodafone have turned down an offer for their Italian business from the same suitor, and while management have said they are looking at options with other suitors with respect to that business it’s hard to see what these options are.

"Suitors haven’t been exactly vocal when it comes to banging down Vodafone’s door when it comes to the Italian business, with the only suitor of note being Swisscom’s Fastweb. Vodafone should stop procrastinating, either sell it or make the business work better."