Vodafone 2016 Annual Report Download - page 184

The Company was incorporated under English law in 1984 as Racal
Strategic Radio Limited (registered number 1833679). After various
name changes, 20% of Racal Telecom Plc share capital was offered
tothe public in October 1988. The Company was fully demerged
fromRacal Electronics Plc and became an independent company
in September 1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone
GroupPlc.
Since then we have entered into various transactions which signicantly
impacted on the development of the Group. The most signicant
of these transactions are summarised below:
a The merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. which completed
on 30 June 1999. The Company changed its name to Vodafone
AirTouch Plc in June 1999 but then reverted to its former name,
Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000.
a The completion on 10 July 2000 of the agreement with Bell Atlantic
and GTE to combine their US cellular operations to create the largest
mobile operator in the United States, Verizon Wireless, resulting in the
Group having a 45% interest in the combined entity.
a The acquisition of Mannesmann AG which completed on 12 April
2000. Through this transaction we acquired businesses in Germany
and Italy and increased our indirect holding in Société Française
u Radiotéléphone S.A. (‘SFR’).
a Through a series of business transactions between 1999 and 2004
we acquired a 97.7% stake in Vodafone Japan. This was then disposed
of on 27 April 2006.
a On 8 May 2007 we acquired companies with controlling interests
in Vodafone India Limited (‘VIL’), formerly Vodafone Essar Limited,
for US$10.9 billion (£5.5 billion).
a On 20 April 2009 we acquired an additional 15.0% stake in Vodacom
for cash consideration of ZAR 20.6 billion (£1.6 billion). On 18 May
2009 Vodacom became a subsidiary.
a On 10 September 2010 we sold our entire 3.2% interest in China
Mobile Limited for cash consideration of £4.3 billion.
a On 16 June 2011 we sold our entire 44% interest in SFR to Vivendi for
a cash consideration of €7.75 billion (£6.8 billion) and received a nal
dividend from SFR of €200 million (£176 million).
a Through a series of business transactions on 1 June and 1 July 2011,
we acquired an additional 22% stake in VIL from the Essar Group
for a cash consideration of US$4.2 billion (£2.6 billion) including
withholding tax.
a Through a series of business transactions in 2011 and 2012, Vodafone
assigned its rights to purchase approximately 11% of VIL from the
Essar Group to Piramal Healthcare Limited (‘Piramal’). On 18 August
2011 Piramal purchased 5.5% of VIL from the Essar Group for a cash
consideration of INR 28.6 billion (£368 million). On 8 February 2012,
they purchased a further 5.5% of VIL from the Essar Group for a cash
consideration of approximately INR 30.1 billion (£399 million) taking
Piramal’s total shareholding in VIL to approximately 11%.
a On 9 November 2011 we sold our entire 24.4% interest in Polkomtel
in Poland for cash consideration of approximately €920 million
(£784 million) before tax and transaction costs.
a On 27 July 2012 we acquired the entire share capital of Cable &
Wireless Worldwide plc for a cash consideration of £1,050 million.
a On 31 October 2012 we acquired TelstraClear Limited in New
Zealand for a cash consideration of NZ$840 million (£440 million).
a On 13 September 2013 we acquired a 76.57% interest in Kabel
Deutschland Holding AG in Germany for cash consideration
of €5.8 billion (£4.9 billion).
a The completion on 21 February 2014 of the agreement, announced
on 2 September 2013, to dispose of our US Group whose principal
asset was its 45% interest in Verizon Wireless (‘VZW’) to Verizon
Communications Inc. (‘Verizon’), Vodafone’s joint venture
partner, for a total consideration of US$130 billion (£79 billion)
including the remaining 23.1% minority interest in Vodafone Italy.
Following completion, Vodafone shareholders received Verizon
shares and cash totalling US$85 billion (£51 billion).
a In March 2014 we acquired the indirect equity interests in VIL held
by Analjit Singh and Neelu Analjit Singh, taking our stake to 89.03%
and then in April 2014 we acquired the remaining 10.97% of VIL from
Piramal Enterprises Limited for cash consideration of INR 89.0 billion
(£0.9 billion), taking our ownership interest to 100%.
a On 23 July 2014 we acquired the entire share capital of Grupo
Corporativo Ono, S.A. (‘Ono’) in Spain for total consideration, including
associated net debt acquired, of €7.2 billion (£5.8 billion).
Details of signicant transactions that occurred during year ended
31 March 2016 are included in note 28 “Acquisitions and disposals”
and in note 29 “Commitments”.
Details of signicant transactions that occurred after 31 March 2016 and
before the signing of this Annual Report on 17 May 2016 are included
in note 32 “Subsequent events”.
Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report 2016
182
History and development
Unaudited information