e& sells Vodafone stake to Xavier Niel as it refocuses on MEA

Details: James Barton; Category: Operators; 10 July 2026; 345 views

The UAE-headquartered operator group e& is selling its 16.21% stake in Vodafone Group to Vega, an acquisition vehicle wholly owned by the family of French billionaire Xavier Niel, for £4.4 billion (US$5.95 billion).

The deal values the stake at £1.10 a share, and confers upon Vega 17.13% of the total voting rights in Vodafone Group. Through the acquisition, Niel is now the largest shareholder in the UK-headquartered operator.

In a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, e& stated: “following a comprehensive strategic review of its international investment portfolio, e& Group terminated the relationship agreement with Vodafone and its board representative has stepped down from his position as a non-executive director of Vodafone.”

The board representative in question is e& Director Hatem Dowidar, who has held the seat on Vodafone’s board since the two operators signed a strategic partnership in May 2023. E& first acquired a 9.8% stake in Vodafone in 2022 and has increased this holding in the years since.

Manish Pravinkumar of Canalys told us that the move should not be read as e& losing faith in Vodafone, but instead stepping back from its ambition to be a global telecom and tech player, and refocusing capital on its core, home-market businesses.

Noting that e& described the sale as a “natural evolution of its strategic priorities, enabling it to sharpen strategic focus on core businesses while unlocking the value created through this investment”, Pravinkumar argued that this indicated that the decision was based on capital discipline rather than a negative view of the asset.

"e& has decided a large, non-controlling minority stake in a European turnaround doesn't fit with where it wants to deploy capital right now”, said Pravinkumar. “The roughly $1.3 billion in net cash this frees up is likely headed toward markets where e& has direct operational control and clearer near-term growth visibility — its home base in the UAE, along with key growth markets like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, and its wider Africa footprint, where it can shape strategy directly rather than sit as a passive minority shareholder overseas.”

While the deal awaits regulatory approval, e&’s shares are to be sold off simultaneously and held by three financial institutions. The deal is expected to provide e& with a net cash return of around AED 4.7 billion (US$1.3 billion).