You might remember back in April when network operator Vodafone announced plans to buy UK-based Cable & Wireless Worldwide for over a billion pounds. Under the proposed deal, Vodafone would acquire 100 percent of CWW shares in exchange for a cash payment of £1.04 billion. At the time, this equated to 38p a share for CWW shareholders, which was a premium of 92 percent on the 19.8p per share closing price on 10 February 2012 (the last business day prior to the commencement of the offer period). Today, it emerged that key shareholder Orbis has agreed to give the deal the go ahead.
Orbis had originally threatened to oppose the deal and was in favor of holding out for a better deal. However, The Register today reports that Orbis and its 19 percent share of CWW are now behind the deal. According to the site, 60 percent of CWW shareholders voted, and 99.1 percent of the voting 60 percent gave the thumbs-up for Vodafone's offer.
Vodafone will be able to get its hands on CWW's UK fibre optic network. The biggest in the UK, CWW has more than 425,000km of undersea cables connecting approximately 150 countries. According to the Register, CWW has 20,000km of cabling in the UK and this acquisition will make Vodafone the second biggest telecoms company in the UK after British Telecom.
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