Vodafone's Sarin bows out on his terms

By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - When Vittorio Colao returned as deputy chief executive to mobile phone giant Vodafone in 2006, the news sparked speculation that he was being set up to replace the "beleaguered" CEO Arun Sarin.

Almost two years later, the Italian has indeed replaced the Indian-born Sarin, but under much more favourable circumstances.

On Tuesday, both men enjoyed the plaudits as analysts congratulated Sarin for his leadership in taking Vodafone into emerging markets while making the most of sales from slowing core European countries.

"Arun Sarin is to step down after five years as Vodafone's CEO and he leaves with his reputation intact," ING analyst Damien Chew said in a note to clients.

"He has successfully implemented Vodafone's new strategy after coming under intense pressure a couple of years ago (and) ... Arun Sarin's successor is no surprise."

Sarin, who was appointed CEO in 2003, brought an abrupt end to his honeymoon with investors after losing the battle to win control of U.S. mobile carrier AT&T Wireless in 2004.

In 2006, he had to announce an asset writedown of more than 23 billion pounds and later that year came under pressure to spell out more clearly how he planned to cope with the slowing growth in core European markets and new technologies.

At a shareholder vote in July of that year, he had to sit through individual shareholders complaining about how the company was being run and in the vote for his re-election, watched as nearly 10 percent of ballots were cast against him.