Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) has received an offer for its Italy from Iliad, a private French telecoms business run by Xavier Niel, reports today suggested.
According to Bloomberg, quoting sources within the company, a bid was submitted to the FTSE 100 company's board last week.
READ: Vodafone tipped for wave of deals after activist talks
Stories have been circulating for a number of weeks linking Vodafone Italia with Iliad’s Italian arm with the UK group’s chief executive Nick Read last week suggesting a wave of consolidation among European telcos was likely.
Reports at the weekend suggested Vodafone was in discussions with new activist investor Cevian Capital about a more aggressive strategy to boost its flagging share price.
The company had previously approached Three UK’s owner about a merger according to the reports and is also looking at deals in Spain and for its towers business Vantage.