LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Shares in Vodafone fell3.6 percent on Wednesday after its joint venture partner VerizonCommunications sought to bring an end to rampant bidspeculation by saying it did not plan to buy the British group.
Verizon released its statement late on Tuesday evening aftera report by the Financial Times Alphaville blog that citedunnamed sources as saying Verizon and its biggest U.S. rival,AT&T Inc, were working together on a joint bid.
The story said under the plan Verizon would take Vodafone'sU.S. assets and AT&T would take the rest. However that wasmerely the latest report to speculate on the future for Vodafoneas investors question whether it should restructure and sell itsbest performing asset, the 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.
The potential sale of the $115 billion stake has driven theshare price up more than 25 percent since the start of the year.
Verizon said in its brief statement on Tuesday that itremained interested in buying the rest of Verizon Wireless, thelargest mobile operator in the U.S., but London-based analystsbelieve the two sides will struggle to agree a price, partly dueto the presence of a large tax bill for the British group.
That could leave the two firms stuck with the status quo,with Vodafone holding a minority stake in its most importantasset, and Verizon unable to own all of a business - and all ofits cash - that it has long coveted. (Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Brenda Goh)
Vodafone (VOD)
