Shares in Cable & Wireless Worldwide have come under pressure on jitters about the success of Vodafone's proposed £1bn bid for the business.
CWW has fallen by more than 4% to 33.5p, well below the mobile phone group's 38p a share offer. Fund manager Orbis Investment Management, which owns around 19% of CWW, has already declined to back the deal, saying it undervalued the business, and new comments suggest it may stand in the way of Vodafone succeeding.
Vodafone needs 75% acceptances at a shareholder meeting to win the day but even though Orbis has not said it would vote against the deal, it now says it may decide to remain a minority shareholder in CWW:
[We] declined to give an irrevocable undertaking to back the Vodafone bid because we do not believe it reflects CWW's true value. We are evaluating our options, including remaining a minority shareholder in CWW as we did in 2010/11 in Océ after Canon's bid, knowing very well the risk that Vodafone may withdraw its offer and CWW's share price may fall in the short term.
Ultimately, we shall endeavour to do whatever we believe is most likely to create long-term value for our clients, even if this comes at the cost of short-term share price volatility.
