Asia’s richest person Li Ka-shing is in talks to buy Britain’s second-largest mobile provider O2 for up to £10.25bn from Spain’s Telefonica.
His firm Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa already owns the Three mobile network, and combining it with O2 would create the UK’s biggest mobile group but the move could face tough scrutiny from competition regulators.
Hutchison shares jumped 4% on the announcement after they resumed trading in Hong Kong. They had been suspended on Friday morning pending the statement.
The BBC has more on the story here
Mr Li has spent more than £20bn on overseas acquisitions in recent years. Just earlier this week, he agreed to buy the UK’s Eversholt Rail Group for £1.1bn in a deal I reported here with regard to its impact on GBPUSD
Markets will be unsure at the moment as to the impact of this latest deal as it could mean a EURUSD cash purchase if they’re buying direct from Telefonica rather than a GBPUSD purchase direct from O2. As always the actual amount of cash involved anyway will be subject to speculation for the moment but expect this M&A story to get further forex market coverage
GBPUSD 1.4990 EURUSD 1.1328
