Vodafone agrees to sell Italian business to Swisscom for €8 billion, shares rise by 4%.

From Morningstar:

Vodafone Group has agreed to sell its Italian business to Swisscom for €8 billion, with half of the proceeds to be returned to shareholders. Shares in the company rose by 4% to 68p on the news. Additionally, Vodafone will reduce its annual dividend to 4.5 euro cents per share starting from 2025.

The acquisition will be fully debt-financed by Swisscom, who plans to combine Vodafone Italia with its own subsidiary, Fastweb. Swisscom expects to achieve €600 million in annual cost savings from the merger and believes the two companies are an ideal fit to create value for all stakeholders.

Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle announced the reshaping of their European operations through the sale of their Italian business, following a similar disposal of their Spanish arm, totaling €12 billion. The shift aims to focus on growing telco markets and expanding digital services to drive predictable, stronger growth in Europe.



Read more at Morningstar: Vodafone Shares Jump on News of Italian Business Sale