The Vodafone and Three UK (CK Hutchison) merger has now completed, creating a new business that will invest £11bn over the next 10 years.
The new group named VodafoneThree will be owned 51% by Vodafone and 49% by CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings. Vodafone will fully consolidate VodafoneThree in its financial results.
Max Taylor, who currently leads Vodafone UK will serve as CEO and Three UK’s Darren Purkis will be CFO.
VodafoneThree will invest £11bn over the next 10 years to create one of Europe’s most advanced 5G networks.
In its first year, VodafoneThree plans to invest £1.3bn in capex to accelerate its network deployment. The combined business is expected to deliver cost and capex synergies of £700m, per annum by the fifth year after completion and the transaction is expected to be accretive to Vodafone’s Adjusted free cash flow from FY29 onwards.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group Chief Executive, said: “We are now eager to kick-off our network build. The transaction completes the reshaping of Vodafone in Europe, and following this period of transition we are now well-positioned for growth ahead.”
Canning Fok, Deputy Chairman of CK Hutchison and Executive Chairman of CKHGT, said: “In addition, this transaction unlocks significant shareholder value, returning approximately £1.3 billion in net cash to the Group.”