Vodafone starts China Mobile stake sale

Vodafone, the world's largest telecom operator by revenue, launched the sale of its 3.2% stake in China Mobile on Tuesday, sources with direct knowledge of the process told Reuters.
The entire stake is worth $6.7 bln, based on China Mobile's last traded price, though it was unclear how much of the stake was on sale as of Tuesday.
Two people familiar with the matter said Vodafone could end up placing the whole of its stake.
The planned sale is part of Vodafone's strategy to exit non-strategic investments which analysts and investors believe have hit the firm's overall value in recent years.
Vodafone declined to comment. China Mobile could not be reached.
People familiar with the matter said eight banks including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC were pitching to arrange the placing, managed by corporate adviser Rothschild.
The planned exit comes after Vodafone's lock-up period on the China Mobile stake ended recently.
Vodafone has seen the value of its stake more than double since it purchased it in two tranches between 2000 and 2002 for a total of $3.25 bln.
China Mobile shares are up 12.5% in 2010 compared with a 2.2% fall in the broader Hong Kong Index.
And analysts had said it would be one of the easier minority stakes for Vodafone to sell, compared with other possible disposals such as its 44% stake in France's SFR and its 45% holding in Verizon Wireless, which only have one possible buyer each.
Despite China's position as the world's biggest mobile market, with nearly 800 mln subscribers, growth for China Mobile and its competitors has also been slowing as revenue from voice calls declines amid increasing cellphone penetration rates.
Vodafone said in July it was reconsidering its strategy on holding minority stakes in companies, prompting speculation it would look to sell or spin off its stakes in operators in countries including France, the United States, Poland and China.
Senior bankers said Vodafone was not under pressure to sell assets to shore up its balance sheet or improve cashflow.
Its shares were flat at 159.7 pence at 1539 GMT after being down in earlier trading.
All of the banks either declined to comment or were not immediately available for comment.