LONDON â€" The British telecommunications giant Vodafone received approval on Friday from European antitrust authorities for its proposed 7.7 billion euros ($10.4 billion) takeover for the German cable company Kabel Deutschland.
The approval from the competition authorities was the final hurdle for Vodafone, which recently sold its stake in Verizon Wireless to its American partner Verizon Communications for $130 billion, to acquire Germany’s largest cable operator.
Vodafone had to wait until the final minute for Kabel’s shareholders to give their backing for the deal, which will help to expand Vodafone’s cable offerings in Europe’s largest economy.
The takeover, first announced in June, is now expected to be completed by the middle of October.
