Vodafone announces more details of payback to shareholders

VodafoneGlobal telecom service provider, Vodafone has announced more details about how it will payback its shareholders following the sale of the group's stake in Verizon Wireless in the US.

The UK company said that it is planning to pay£51 billion back to its shareholders. The company sold its stake in the US venture in a deal valued at about $130 billion. The FTSE 100 telecoms operator said that the shareholders will receive 0.026 Verizon shares for each Vodafone share they owned under the pay out at 8am on 24 February, 2014.

The company also said that its shares will be consolidated on the same day at a ratio of six new shares for 11 existing Vodafone shares. Based on the share prices at the close of trading on 18 February, the payment of shareholders will be equivalent to 102p per Vodafone share including 72p worth of Verizon common shares and 30p in cash. The deal is expected to bring the largest return of value to investors ever.

The deal has been approved by 99.61 per cent of votes cast and will move significant amount into the company. 490,000 small retail shareholders in the UK and Ireland besides a group of Vodafone's 250 most senior managers and directors will receive payments form the company. Under the deal, Vodafone shareholders worldwide will receive an estimated £15bn in cash and a further £36bn in the shares of Verizon Communications.