French tycoon Xavier Niel becomes Vodafone’s top shareholder in $6 billion deal

French billionaire Xavier Niel is set to become Vodafone Group’s largest shareholder, after UAE telecoms group e& agreed to sell its entire stake in the British telecoms group for almost $6 billion. The deal gives one of Europe’s most active telecoms dealmakers, who has long championed consolidation ‌in the continent’s fragmented industry, ⁠the ⁠largest stake in Britain’s biggest mobile operator.

Vega, the acquisition vehicle wholly owned by the Niel family group, said it had struck a binding agreement to buy the roughly 16.2% stake for about £4.4 billion ($5.91 billion).