AIX SELLS OUT OF VODAFONE

This morning's announcement by AIX effectively values Vodafone Australia at $2.3B, a far cry from the >$5B in inferred value which was being touted in the market 12+ months ago.

This morning, AIX confirmed that its Hastings Funds Management business had yesterday sold its 4.5% stake in Vodafone Australia effectively for $105m.

As a result of this sale taking place, Vodafone Pacific is now 100% controlled by Vodafone PLC. Such a move (ie: in cleaning up its equity structure, etc), now positions Vodafone for the next step in industry rationalisation.

Such a step may well comprise one or more of the following:
1)
exit from Australia through a sale to another party (ie: HTA);
2)
a merger with another party in order to provide a more comprehensive level of coverage and service (ie: HTA and /or TEL/AAPT); and /or
3)
an infrastructure sharing arrangement /equity commitment in support of its 3G aspirations (ie: through a tie-up with Hutchison, as the most advanced developer of 3G services in Australia).