Last checked at 
(Adds reaction, details)
By Kate Holton
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Verizon Communications waspoised on Monday to take full control of its U.S. wirelessbusiness with a $130 billion deal to buy out Vodafone and end a decade-long corporate standoff.
The British firm said late on Sunday it was in advancedtalks with Verizon to sell its 45 percent stake in the VerizonWireless joint venture for cash and common shares in what wouldbe the world's third-largest deal of all time.
People familiar with the situation told Reuters they expecta full announcement to come after the London stock market closeson Monday, and after the board of Verizon meets to vote on theproposed transaction for the biggest mobile operator in theUnited States.
The move to sell Verizon closes a heady expansionist chapterfor one of Britain's most famous companies, which grew rapidlyover the last 20 years through a spate of aggressive deals totake its red brand into more than 30 countries across Europe,Africa and India.
The world's largest deal, a $203 billion hostile takeover ofGermany's Mannesmann in 2000, made Vodafone the company it istoday.
The new Vodafone will be smaller, less profitable and morereliant on its core, mature European assets but it is expectedto use the windfall to rebuild via smaller acquisitions andhigher network investments.
Speculation has already begun that Vodafone could itselfbecome a bid target, and news of the pending deal sent itsshares up 4 percent to a more than 12-year high in early Londontrade on Monday.
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Vodafone wouldget $60 billion in cash, $60 billion in Verizon stock, and anadditional $10 billion from smaller transactions that will takethe total deal value to $130 billion, two of the people familiarwith the matter have told Reuters.
To fund the cash portion of the deal, Verizon has lined upas much as $65 billion in financing from four banks: JPMorganChase & Co, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, they said. The bankshave committed to the financing which is expected be splitevenly among the four, two people said.
INCREASING PRESSURE
The news that the two sides are nearing a final agreementfollows years of speculation as to when and whether Vodafone,the world's second largest mobile operator, would exit thehighly successful business.
Vodafone entered the United States in 1999 through a seriesof deals that resulted in the formation of Verizon Wireless in2000, with Verizon Communications holding 55 percent of thecompany and Vodafone the rest.
But the two sides clashed almost immediately and thepartnership has over the years been fraught with difficulties,with both partners at times seeking to buy out the other intimes of weakness.
Verizon at one point withheld dividends from Vodafone forsix years in an effort to force the British group out of thecompany, a stance that was first resisted by Arun Sarin who ledthe company from 2003 to 2008 and then by current boss VittorioColao.
Their resistance, often in the face of investor demands fora sale, may prove to have been a masterstroke. Verizon Wirelessbecame the largest operator in the U.S., a growing market thatboasts high margins and high prices compared with Europe.
For Verizon, a deal means it no longer has to share thebillions in cash generated by Verizon Wireless and will in thelong run be better able to compete in a country that looks setto turn more competitive.
($1 = 0.6465 British pounds)
