Vodafone 2011 Annual Report Download - page 141

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Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2011 139
Additional information
History and development
The Company was incorporated under English law in 1984 as Racal Strategic
Radio Limited (registered number 1833679). After various name changes,
20% of Racal Telecom Plc capital was offered to the public in October 1988.
The Company was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became
an independent company in September 1991, at which time it changed its
name to Vodafone Group Plc.
Since then we have entered into various transactions which consolidated
our position in the United Kingdom and enhanced our international
presence. The most significant of these transactions were as follows:
■the merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. which completed on
30 June 1999. The Company changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc
in June 1999 but then reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc, on
28 July 2000;
■the acquisition of Mannesmann AG which completed on 12 April 2000.
Through this transaction we acquired businesses in Germany and Italy
and increased our indirect holding in SFR;
■through a series of business transactions between 1999 and 2004 we
acquired a 97.7% stake in Vodafone Japan. This was then disposed of on
27 April 2006; and
■on 8 May 2007 we acquired companies with interests in Vodafone
Essar for US$10.9 billion (£5.5 billion), following which we control
Vodafone Essar.
Other transactions that have occurred since 31 March 2008 are as follows:
19 May 2008 – Arcor: We increased our stake in Arcor for €460 million
(£366 million) and now own 100% of Arcor.
17 August 2008 – Ghana: We acquired 70.0% of Ghana Telecommunications
for cash consideration of £486 million.
9 January 2009 – Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless completed its
acquisition of Alltel Corp. for approximately US$5.9 billion (£3.9 billion).
20 April 2009 – South Africa: We acquired an additional 15.0% stake in
Vodacom for cash consideration of ZAR 20.6 billion (£1.6 billion). On 18 May
2009 Vodacom became a subsidiary.
10 May 2009 – Qatar: Vodafone Qatar completed a public offering of 40.0%
of its authorised share capital raising QAR 3.4 billion (£0.6 billion). The shares
were listed on the Qatar Exchange on 22 July 2009. Qatar launched full
services on its network on 7 July 2009.
9 June 2009 – Australia: Vodafone Australia merged with Hutchison 3G
Australia to form a 50:50 joint venture, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty
Limited.
10 September 2010 – China Mobile Limited: We sold our entire 3.2%
interest in China Mobile Limited for cash consideration of £4.3 billion.
30/31 March 2011– India: The Essar Group exercised its underwritten put
option over 22.0% of Vodafone Essar Limited (‘VEL’), following which we
exercised our call option over the remaining 11.0% of VEL owned by the
Essar Group. The total consideration due under these two options is US$5
billion (£3.1 billion).
3 April 2011– SFR: We agreed to sell our entire 44% interest in SFR to
Vivendi for a cash consideration of €7.75 billion (£6.8 billion). We will also
receive a final dividend from SFR of €200 million (£176 million) on
completion of the transaction which, subject to competition authority and
regulatory approvals, is expected during the second calendar quarter of 2011.