Charles Dunstone, the founder and chairman of UK handset retailer Carphone Warehouse has sold about 10% of his stake in the company – or 3% of the total group – for £35m.
The sale, according to the company, was to “a combination of personal…
Charles Dunstone, the founder and chairman of UK handset retailer Carphone Warehouse has sold about 10% of his stake in the company – or 3% of the total group – for £35m.
The sale, according to the company, was to “a combination of personal requirements”. Following the move, Dunstone’s stake in the group is 29.1%.
He also retains a stake of around 30% in TalkTalk, the former ISP of Carphone Warehouse that was demerged into a listed standalone company in March, remains the subject of takeover rumours.
The consensus is that the most likely suitor would be UK mobile operator Vodafone, which is looking to extend its fixed-mobile reach at home. In fact, Vodafone had been seen as the frontrunner when the UK assets of Italian ISP Tiscali went on the block – these were in the end acquired by Carphone Warehouse after a protracted sale process.
Last year, Vodafone strengthened its fixed-mobile offering in Germany when it acquired local ISP Hansenet from Telecom Italia. In the UK, it has so far sought allowed TalkTalk to set up an MVNO running on its network.
Or is Vodafone interested in the retail side?
Last week, sources familiar with private equity group Providence Equity reportedly said that handset outlet (and Carphone competitor) Phones4U has attracted the interest of firms including Vodafone, retailer DSG and videogames retailer Game Group.
TalkTalk has a market cap of £1.26bn, with analysts estimating that chairman Charles Dunstone holds a stake of around 33%, his former finance director David Ross just under 16% and Fidelity just over 40%.
The company declined comment.
