The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
More trouble for Altice: French prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into potential corruption linked to the telecom group, just months after co-founder Armando Pereira was temporarily detained in a Portuguese investigation
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-08/france-probing-corruption-tied-to-altice-after-portugal-inquiry
LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Virgin Media 02 said on Friday it planned to spin out its cable and fibre network, which serves 16 million homes, into a wholly owned new network company to enable it to better challenge BT Openreach, the British market leader.
Lots of misleading going on here
I hope the plane is a Boeing....
Bolx
What have OFCOM been up to now?
From the Telegraph
Vodafone has been warned by union bosses that the planned merger of its UK arm with Chinese-owned rival Three raises “profound national security questions” relating to sensitive official contracts.
Officials at Unite have written to Margherita Della Valle, interim chief executive of Vodafone, to express their “grave reservations” about CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong-based parent company of Three.
The proposed multibillion-pound tie-up has been under discussion for many months and would create a single operator with 27 million customers. It could prove to be the biggest test to date of new takeover laws aimed at safeguarding national security, however, amid mounting concern over Chinese involvement in critical infrastructure.
Unite accused Li Ka-shing, the billionaire owner of CK Hutchison, and his family of political “collaboration” with the Chinese state. Mr Li and his son Victor hold civil and political roles, and sat on the election committee that pushed through pro-Beijing candidate John Lee Ka-chiu as chief executive of Hong Kong.
The union, which was involved with a dispute with CK Hutchison at the Port of Felixstowe last year, also pointed to previous comments by Mr Li in support of Hong Kong’s sweeping new national security laws. They have helped Beijing to stamp out dissent and tighten its control over the former British colony.
Unite wrote: “A tie-up between Vodafone and Three would give the CK group a far more prominent and powerful place at the very heart of the UK’s telecoms infrastructure, and we therefore believe that such links prompt significant national security questions regarding any proposed merger.
“In particular, given Vodafone’s position as a strategic supplier to the UK public sector, we believe there are profound national security questions to be asked about involving the CK group in sensitive government contracts."
Vodafone has responded to the letter but refused to meet officials at Unite until any deal is finalised.
Unite’s intervention marks the latest sign of opposition to a deal between Vodafone and Three. The Telegraph also understands that Sky expects to resist the merger, with a source arguing that the two companies were planning to “raise prices for consumers because they haven’t managed their businesses well”. Vodafone and Three have argued their returns are too low and they must be allowed to merge to cut costs to fund investment in mobile coverage.
Unite is now planning to devote considerable resources to lobby politicians and regulators to oppose the merger. The National Security and Investment Act, which was introduced in 2021, aims to address worries about the
A private equity backed-challenger to BT has secured nearly £1bn in funding to expand its full-fibre network across London, the latest injection of capital into the so-called “alt nets” taking on the former state monopoly.
Community Fibre, which is backed by US fund Warburg Pincus, Deutsche Telekom, infrastructure fund Amber and the railways pensions scheme, is planning to wire up 2.2 million London homes to full fibre broadband by 2024.
From the Telegraph....
By pure luck
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/15/ftse-100-markets-live-news-strikes-china-gdp-gas/
Telegraph first reported at 2:24pm
Virgin Media O2 considers TalkTalk takeover
Virgin Media O2 has explored a deal for broadband rival TalkTalk that would strengthen its challenge to the dominance of BT.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/15/virgin-media-o2-considers-talktalk-takeover/
A takeover would bring together Britain's third and fourth biggest broadband providers, catapulting Virgin Media O2 above Sky to become the UK's second biggest internet business. It would also bolster the Liberty Global-owned company's ambitions to take on BT.
From the Telegraph
Bankers at LionTree working on behalf of Virgin Media O2 and Liberty Global have sounded out TalkTalk after its owners hoisted a for sale over the company, sources have said.
Liberty Global-owned Virgin Media O2 is understood to have held talks with the cut-price internet provider, as the industry braces for a wave of consolidation.
Such a sale could prove to be the first of many deals in the telecoms industry, with the likes of Vodafone, BT and Virgin Media O2 urging regulators to let companies merge in order to make better returns.
Sir Charles Dunstone, TalkTalk's founder, struck a deal with Martin Hughes' Toscafund to de-list the business in March 2021
Virgin Media O2 considers TalkTalk takeover
An Open-label Study of the Safety and Tolerability of Repeated Administration of a 200-mcg Dose of IPP-201101 Plus Standard of Care in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Its nothing to do with high volume of trade. There are 3 auctions a day, 0750, 1200 and 1630 and also unscheduled intra day auctions when a price cannot be easily detemined
Yes they do show live prices if your logged in. Share in auction currently
139m shares. I don't think so....