Deutsche Bahn may sell Arcor stake to Vodafone

Thu May 15, 2008 7:52pm BST

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bahn has agreed to sell its stake in Vodafone's German fixed-line business Arcor to Vodafone for around 330 million euros (261.8 million pounds), the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper reported on Thursday.

Deutsche Bahn's supervisory board approved the deal on Thursday, the paper said in a report released in advance of publication on Friday, without citing sources.

Vodafone will be able to take complete control of Arcor because Deutsche Bank also wants to sell its stake of around 8 percent to Vodafone for around 145 million euros, the paper said.

Deutsche Bahn, which holds an 18 percent stake in Arcor, was not immediately available for comment.

Vodafone confirmed in March that it was talking to Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank about buying their Arcor stakes.

(Reporting by Jonathan Gould; editing by Rory Channing)

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