Vodafone and CK Hutchison are close to agreeing a £15bn combination of their UK telecoms businesses that would create the country’s biggest mobile operator, with 28mn customers, three people close to the matter said.
The deal is expected to be unveiled this month following the appointment of insider Margherita Della Valle as Vodafone chief executive after months of uncertainty on who would run the UK telecoms group on a permanent basis, they said.
The deal is set to value the equity of the combined group at about £9bn, some of the people added. The new company would have roughly £6bn of debt, taking its enterprise value to about £15bn.