Verizon Communications is not in talks with Vodafone Group Plc about
taking full ownership of their Verizon Wireless venture, despite market
speculation this week that such a deal could happen, Verizon's top
executive said.
"There's no discussions about it," Verizon Chief
Executive Lowell McAdam told Reuters late on Tuesday at the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Verizon, which owns 55 percent of
the wireless venture, has long said that it would be interested in
buying out Vodafone if the 45 percent owner would sell its stake.
Vodafone
shares rose 2.6 percent on Tuesday and added almost 8 points to the
FTSE 100 Index, the UK benchmark, after McAdam was quoted in a Dow Jones
report saying that a deal could be feasible.
But McAdam said his
comment did not mean that Verizon was any more likely now to be able to
purchase Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless than it was
before.
"It's been feasible for 10 years," McAdams said. "There's nothing that's changed."
© Thomson Reuters 2012