There’s a litle bit of chatter/supposition on the ground this morning suggesting that the Vodafone payout to their shareholders from the Verizon stake-sale could add a bit of demand to the mighty pound in the coming weeks.
The sale, last September was worth USD 130 bln of which there has been talk that somewhere in the region of USD 84 bln will be paid back to Vodafone shareholders.
Letters have already been sent out asking how they would like to be re-imbursed and the company now wait to see exactly how much GBP will be required that UK investors might need. Deadline for replies is Feb 20th and the payments are due to be made from March 4th.
The big question though is how much GBPUSD has been bought already, either by Vodafone or the market front-running the expected demand. How much do they still have from the original play in September? And the great unknown at this stage is exactly how much will be required by Vodafone anyway.
Will investors choose to keep the stock or convert? And if they convert will they re-invest in the UK stock markets?
More questions than answers right now but something to keep in mind in the weeks ahead.
