British mobile telephone giant Vodafone is poised to launch a US$40 billion bid for AT and T Wireless, the third largest mobile operator in the US, reports said late Saturday.
Executives at Vodafone, which has pointedly refused in recent weeks to rule out a takeover attempt for the US giant, were spending the weekend "frantically working" on the plan, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said.
According to The Observer, which also said a bid was being sized up, it could yet end up being vetoed by the British company's board of directors.
"I don't think we'll decide till the last possible moment," one Vodafone director, speaking anonymously, was quoted as telling the Sunday Telegraph.
"I would say the odds are 55 percent in favor of us going ahead," the director added.
AT and T Wireless has in effect placed itself on the auction block, setting a deadline of Friday for potential buyers to submit their final bids for the company.
Media reports suggest that Vodafone is one of several companies planning a takeover bid for the US operator, with Cingular, the second-largest wireless company in the US, seen as the front-runner.
However The Observer said that such a massive bid could concern some Vodafone shareholders, who had thought the era of rapid acquisitions ended with the retirement of chief executive Christopher Gent in June last year.
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