Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&) has announced the termination of its relationship agreement with Vodafone Group and sale of its shares in the company for approximately AED21.8 billion ($5.95 billion).

This follows a comprehensive strategic review of its international investment portfolio, the company said

In connection with this, e&'s board representative has stepped down from his position as a non-executive director of Vodafone.

Following the termination of the relationship agreement, e& has signed a binding agreement with Vega, an acquisition vehicle wholly owned by the Niel family group, to divest its entire holding of 3,944,743,685 ordinary shares in Vodafone, representing approximately 16.21% of Vodafone's issued share capital and 17.13% of its total voting rights, for a total consideration of 112.5 GBp per share. This comprises approximately 110.5 GBp per share in cash from the buyer and Vodafone's final FY26 dividend (of 2.02 GBp per share, to be received on 30 July 2026).

The shares will be sold simultaneously through off-market block trades to three financial institutions, who will hold the shares until Vega completes regulatory requirements.

Upon completion of the transfer of the shares to the financial institutions, the transaction will generate cash proceeds to e& of approximately AED21.8 billion ($5.95 billion), inclusive of final FY26 dividend. 

The transaction is expected to deliver a net cash return of approximately AED4.7 billion ($1.3 billion), e& said. - TradeArabia News Service