By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Vodafone Group PLC led U.K. stocks lower
on Tuesday after the telecom firm reached a deal to sell its stake
in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications Inc. for $130
billion.
Shares of the U.K. heavyweight (VOD) fell 3.8% after the deal,
which was announced Monday after the markets closed in Europe.
Verizon will pay Vodafone about half of the acquisition in cash and
the other half in company stock.
Vodafone said on Tuesday it will launch a 6-billion-pound ($9.35
billion) investment plan called Project Spring to improve 4G
networks, increase broadband access and improve customer
service.
Shares of Vodafone rallied 8.2% last Thursday when the company
confirmed it was in talks with Verizon.
More broadly in London, the FTSE 100 index fell 0.1% to
6,499.85.
Property stocks were among some of the biggest decliners after a
round of ratings downgrades from Deutsche Bank. The bank cut
British Land Co. PLC , off 1.2%, to hold from buy, and Land
Securities Group PLC , off 1.5%, was cut to sell from hold.
"We expect tapering of U.S. quantitative easing over the next 12
months to reduce the liquidity in the global financial system on
which property shares thrive. While we do not expect much impact on
the direct property market, we expect property shares to suffer
while this transition takes place," the analysts said.
On a more upbeat note, mining firms were higher, tracking gains
for most metals prices.
Shares of BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) gained 1%, Antofagasta PLC
added 0.9% and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) put on 0.8%.
Shares of Associated British Foods PLC picked up 1% after Exane
BNP Paribas lifted the firm to outperform from underperform.
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