Vodafone shares slip amid AT&T battle concern

Vodafone group's shares slipped nearly 4% this morning as concerns mounted on the mobile operator getting involved in a bidding battle to takeover US company AT&T Wireless Services.

AT&T Wireless put itself up for sale on January 22 following a succession of bad results, setting a deadline of February 29 to reach a decision on any proposed bids.

Vodafone has made no comment on weekend media reports which suggest that Vodafone submitted a bid on Friday to buy the US operator for around $35bn (€27.4bn).

The Wall Street Journal also reported today that Vodafone and rival bidder US Cingular Wireless, the second largest mobile company in the US, may have upped their offers yesterday to $38bn (€29.8bn) following AT&T requesting second-round offers.

On the FTSE100, just before midday today, Vodafone shares dropped 5.5p, or 4%, to £1.30.5 with over 232 million shares traded.