Vodafone sees acquisitions in next 12 months

Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone Group Plc, told investors on Thursday that the British-based mobile phone giant was likely to secure fresh acquisitions in the next 12 months.

Speaking at the annual Morgan Stanley investor conference in the Spanish city of Barcelona, Sarin reiterated that he saw "a couple" of acquisition opportunities in Asia and in Africa.

"You shouldn't be surprised to see things happening for us there in the coming year," he added.

But Sarin declined to be drawn on speculation that Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company by revenue, was eyeing a 25 percent stake in the mobile operations of Telekom Malaysia .

He said only: "We are all grown up enough to know you should not believe everything you read in the press."

Sarin emphasised that Vodafone continued to pursue investments that would allow it, over time, to gain control -- although he noted that a "very strong" dividend stream might also focus Vodafone's attention in "some circumstances".

The company owns a 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, the second-largest mobile phone operator in the United States. But the business, which is controlled by heavyweight shareholder Verizon Communications, is not expected to reinstate dividends until at least 2009.

Shareholders have been frustrated that the value of the stake, which is valued at around $45 billion, is not reflected in Vodafone's share price.

But Sarin said he understood why Verizon wanted to wait until the fast-growing business, which is expanding and buying spectrum, had no debt before announcing a fresh payout policy and he insisted Vodafone was a "happy shareholder".

Vodafone also hopes to raise its 50 percent stake in African mobile phone joint venture Vodacom after a strategic review by South African joint venture partner Telkom there.

Some analysts expect the company to raise its Vodacom stake to 80-85 percent for around 3.5 billion pounds-4.0 billion pounds ($7.2-$8.3 billion) -- possibly in a matter of weeks.

Sarin has said only that he expected some clarity from Telkom in "a couple of months".

The company, fresh from securing a 775 million euro ($1.1 billion) acquisition of the Italian and Spanish fixed-line businesses of Swedish telecoms group Tele2, also noted it would continue to seek broadband acquisitions in countries where penetration was low and prices were high.

"If you look at the price of DSL (broadband) in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, penetration is lower and prices are higher, giving us a real opportunity...to be a big player in the next 2, 4, 6 years and generate a lot of shareholder value," he said.

But he added that Vodafone's fixed-line aspirations, which have drawn questions from some analysts, were not part of a strategic u-turn.

"We are a mobile player," he said. "You aren't going to hear words like triple and quadruple play from us. We are focused on making sure that we are offering things customers want...and we will offer broadband services where they make money."