Battle for Europe Internet Access Intensifies
Those of you who spent all weekend gearing up for the Super Bowl missed out on an exciting round in the battle for control of Internet access in Europe.
(It was exciting to us, at least.)
Vodafone's
(VOD) - Get Vodafone Group Plc Report
campaign to win over the hearts of
Mannesmann
(MNNSY)
shareholders escalated another notch, as the British-U.S. phone operator announced a joint venture with France's
Vivendi
(VVDIY)
.
The two plan to create a European Web portal that would rival
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
and
AOL Europe
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, a joint venture between
America Online
(AOL)
and
Bertelsmann
. They will also look at joining together to form a pan-European telephone network.
But the alliance is contingent upon Vodafone winning control of Mannesmann, Germany's leading wireless company, which has repeatedly spurned Vodafone's advances.
Mannesmann brass remained opposed to Vodafone's $170 billion hostile takeover bid Sunday; investors have until Feb. 7 to decide.
British generator
PowerGen
(PWG)
, which has been looking for a U.S. acquisition for some time, is reportedly eyeing two companies. The
Sunday Times
of London reports that the company is looking at a bid for Kentucky's
LG&E Energy
(LGE)
worth as much as $2.7 billion. Meanwhile, the
Sunday Business
reports that PowerGen may be preparing a $1.6 billion bid for the distribution business of
Midlands Electricity
, which is owned by
GPU
(GPU)
.
In Germany,
Nortel Networks
(NT)
was selected as the solutions integrator for the launch of
EINSTEINet
, an application service provider. The two partners estimate that the deal will be worth $200 million during the next three years.
Separately, Nortel wrapped up its acquisition of
Qtera
this weekend, a deal worth $3.25 billion in stock.
British Sky Broadcasting
is prepared to spend a quarter of a billion pounds, or nearly $406 million, on Internet investment, the London's
Observer
newspaper reported Sunday. The move follows last week's announcement by U.K. media giant
Pearson
that it will invest the same amount of money in the Net.
Back home,
Harold Greene
, the federal judge who oversaw the government's antitrust case that led to the dismantling of
AT&T
, died Saturday. He was 76.
A
Kenya Airways
plane carrying 169 people plunged into the sea after taking off from the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan late Sunday,
Reuters
reports. The aircraft, an Airbus A310, was heading to Nigeria. On Friday, Kenya Airways announced a $750 million plan to replace its Airbus fleet with Boeing B767-300 aircraft.
And in Japan, stocks fell in early Monday trading. The
Nikkei
average was down 39.70 points to 19,395.08, a loss of 0.2%, by the close of the morning session. Earlier, however, the Nikkei had dipped to 19,224.47.
In the Papers
The Internet may have incited a price war among insurance companies, but their policy premiums are not the only prices that have dipped in the past year. One analyst tells
Barron's
that Swiss insurer
Zurich Financial Services
looks attractive because it has become heavily discounted. ZFS is jointly owned by
Zurich Allied
(ZRHAY)
of Switzerland and
Allied Zurich
(ADZHY)
of the U.K.
The Sunday
New York Times
features an interview with
Bertelsmann
chief exec Thomas Middelhoff, who left AOL's board following its merger with
Time Warner
(TWX)
. Middelhoff would not comment on speculation that Bertelsmann would sell its stake in AOL Europe, but he did say that the company needs to make more acquisitions, namely in magazine publishing and music.
Predictions of the demise of major record labels have been greatly exaggerated, the
Washington Post
reports. The majors still have their marketing muscle, which is continuing to attract many up-and-coming bands despite the distribution advantages offered by the Internet.
David Rheingold is a New York-based freelance writer. At the time of publication he had no positions in any of the securities mentioned, although holdings can change at any time.
