French tycoon Niel to become main Vodafone shareholder: statement

AFP , Friday 10 Jul 2026

French tycoon Xavier Niel is to pay 5.1 billion euros ($5.8 billion) to become the largest shareholder in British mobile phone giant Vodafone, his family-owned acquisition vehicle Vega said Friday.

File Photo: French CEO of Iliad group and Free Telecom Xavier Niel speaks. AFP

Vega said Niel, owner of the Iliad group which operates the Free brand in France, Italy and Poland, is to buy a 16.2 percent stake in Vodafone Group from Emirates Telecommunications (e&).

The deal remains subject to regulators' approval, which Vega said it hoped to secure by the end of the year.

It added that it did not intend to become Vodafone's majority shareholder.

In a separate statement, Vodafone said that e& chief executive Hatem Dowidar had stepped down from his seat on the operator's board with immediate effect.

Vodafone has undergone a deep restructuring in recent years, selling off operations in Spain and Italy and merging with UK competitor Three.

It reported a much reduced net loss for its financial year ending in 2026, at 397 million euros compared with a swingeing 4.2 billion the year before.

The 2025 result was mostly due to marking down of the value of some assets.

News of the deal juiced Vodafone's stock price, with the shares trading in London at 1.09 pounds ($1.46) around 9.30 am (0830 GMT) -- up 11 percent but slightly short of the the 1.10 pounds per share Vega said it would pay e&.