Vodafone Group Plc shares gained as much as 2.4% on Tuesday after Liberty Global Plc said it had acquired a 4.9% stake in the rival British telecom group, in a surprise bet on Vodafone’s plans to revamp its business.
Liberty Global, which acquired 1.34 billion shares in Vodafone, said in a statement on Monday that it isn’t considering an offer for the Newbury, England-based telecom group.
Vodafone’s share price has sunk about 30% in the past 12 months, subsequently attracting a number of strategic investors. These include French billionaire Xavier Niel and United Arab Emirates-backed Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC,