Vodafone's Polish sell-off
Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone company, today sold its stake in Polkomtel, one of Poland's largest mobile networks, for 920 million (£815 million).
The deal is the latest in a year-long campaign by Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao to reduce the British companies' minority stakes in networks it does not control, and concentrate on exploiting data revenues in mature markets like Europe and driving growth in emerging markets such as India and Africa.
The 24.4% stake in Polkomtel is being bought by Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak for cash.
He is also buying up the rest of Polkomtel in a deal valuing it at just under 4 billion from various former Polish state-owned companies as part of the country's ongoing privatisation programme.
Solorz-Zak, who is reported to be Poland's second-wealthiest individual and made most of his fortune from broadcasting, is believed to have seen off rival offers from private equity group Apax and Norway's Telenor.
Two months ago Vodafone sold its 44% stake in France's SFR mobile network to majority owner Vivendi for 7.95 billion, most of which is being returned to shareholders.
Vodafone said the cash proceeds for today's sale will be used to cut debt. It has also sold minority stakes in China for £4.3 billion and in Japan for £3.1 billion within the last 12 months.
Polkomtel has around 14 million customers and competes with two rivals which are respectively owned by France's Orange and Germany's Deutsche Telekom.
