Virgin Mobile may float next year ( 2003-12-08 13:31) (Agencies) Richard Branson's Virgin
Mobile venture is likely to be the next Virgin Group business to go public and
could be floated off in the first half of next year, the British entrepreneur
says.
Virgin is close to resolving a dispute with its partner Deutsche
Telekom-owned T-Mobile which would likely see the British firm buying T-Mobile's
50 percent stake, said Branson, shortly after his discount airline Virgin Blue
made its Australian Stock Exchange debut.
"It is quite likely, I think once the T-Mobile thing's sorted out that next
year it is quite a strong possibility that Virgin Mobile may come to the
market," Branson told Reuters in a phone interview on Monday.
"I should think possibly the first half," he said, when asked on the likely
timeframe.
Asked whether the most likely scenario would see Virgin buying out T-Mobile's
50 percent stake in the venture, Branson said: "It's quite likely, yes, that
we'll end up owning 100 percent of that."
Virgin Mobile, which ranks as Britain's fifth largest mobile phone company,
operates over T-Mobile's UK network and has targeted 600 million pounds in
turnover for 2004.
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