France’s iliad Group Seeks to Buy Part of Vodafone's Italian Operations

France’s iliad Group Monday made a new offer to buy part of Vodafone Italia. The offer was $7 billion in cash, plus a 50% stake in a joint venture combining the two companies’ Italian operations. Last year, iliad sought to buy Vodafone’s Italian operations. New Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle will have a chance to consider this latest offer. “The market context in Italy calls for the creation of the most innovative telecom challenger, with [the] ability to compete and create value in a competitive environment,” said Thomas Reynaud, iliad Group CEO: “We believe that the profiles and complementary expertise of iliad and Vodafone in Italy would allow us to build a strong operator with the ability and financial strength to invest for the long term. NewCo would be fully committed to accelerating the country’s digital transformation and especially fiber adoption and 5G deployment.”