Chris Gent, Vodafone's chief executive, is planning a series of new alliances with American and European internet and data services providers after sealing the 181bn euro (£110bn) merger with Mannesmann to create the world's largest telecom company.
The world's biggest corporate deal, creating a group worth £225bn, yesterday unleashed a wave of buying into European telecoms as investors bet on a wholesale shake-up of the corporate landscape as a result of the deal. Germany's Dax index rose to a record high, with Deutsche Telekom and Siemens reaching their own highs - a trend echoed elsewhere on the continent.
Mr Gent, buoyed by endorsements from both Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, who clashed at the outset of Vodafone's hostile bid, set out the enlarged group's stall as "the partner of choice" throughout the world.
He hopes by the middle of next week to declare unconditional the offer - approved belatedly by Mannesmann's supervisory board yesterday - of 58.96 Vodafone shares for every Mannesmann share, giving the German company 49.5% of the combined group.
He said in a London conference call that, by agreeing to demerge or even sell off Orange, Vodafone hoped to get swift regulatory approval for the friendly merger by early next month at the latest.
Mr Gent insisted that the enlarged group, to be known as Vodafone AirTouch, would not pose a serious competition issue given the presence of Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, BT and other mobile operators.
But German sources, still smarting from Mannesmann's loss of independence, questioned whether Brussels would simply give approval without launching a full-scale investigation lasting up to four months - given the repeated references to dominance.
A few analysts also questioned whether Vodafone had paid over the odds to secure a European partner for its global ambitions, with aides of Klaus Esser, Mannesmann's chief executive, pointing out that he had forced up the price from 155 euro in October to Vodafone's effective offer of 353 euro.
"That's three euros more than the 350 euros Klaus put as the value of the group, a statement that brought him ridicule as a man off his head," a source said. "And he's got a company worth 30% less than Vodafone owning nearly half the new group."
Mr Gent paid handsome tribute to his opponent, not least for his sense of humour. "There should be smiles in Germany given the tremendous shareholder value created, not least by Klaus Esser in the robust defence of his own company. Our discussions were always professional and courteous."
But Mr Esser, who is to become a non-executive deputy chairman after overseeing the £2.5bn float of Mannesmann's engineering and automotive unit in late June, is increasingly seen in his homeland as the man who sold out corporate Germany to Anglo-Saxon capitalism. It emerged clearly yesterday that Mr Esser, who is likely to seek new pastures, lost the battle for independence when he failed to cement a planned 60-40 merger with French media group Vivendi, which backed Vodafone instead.
Mr Gent and his advisers believe the turning point came, however, when Hutchison Whampoa, led by flamboyant Li Ka-shing, began to vote its 11% stake in the Mannesmann group towards Vodafone. "The unequivocal message from shareholders was that, however good the Mannesmann team, the business would be better with us," said Mr Gent.
Disputing this, Mannesmann insiders said British institutions in particular simply had "an unquestioning love affair with the notion that bigger is better and global is the only way". Mr Esser blamed speculative moves by arbitrageurs.
Mr Gent, who signed off on the deal in Düsseldorf on Thursday after a last-minute impasse had threatened it, said he now hoped for a swift integration of Mannesmann's business and personnel within the wider group's operations.
