DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the European markets are mixed. But there are some interesting stories behind the numbers. Joining me now is Christopher Swann of the "Financial Times," live from the paper's London newsroom. And, Christopher, I gather we've got a big drop in shares of Vodafone today.</s>CHRISTOPHER SWANN, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, this is not entirely unpredictable. They're issuing quite a large amount of new shares -- around about $4 billion worth. This is to pick up two overseas interests of British Telecom. The first and most important one is BT's stake in Japan Telecom. And for that they're paying about 5.3 billion U.S. dollars. And they're also picking up a smaller interest in Airtel, the Spanish mobile company. That's $1.77 billion. Now, I think the market is taking the view that this is a good strategic move for Vodafone. They're plugging a major hole in their worldwide portfolio. And that is Japan, obviously a very crucial market. But, at the same time, there may be growing worries about the debt level that they're assuming. They're one of the least indebted of the mobile phone companies at the moment, but that seems to be changing.</s>MARCHINI: All right. We've got Paris down a half-a-percent. What factors are operating there?</s>SWANN: Well, I think the European markets are being undermined by the purchasing managers that have come out this morning. Both in Germany and France and in Italy, they're all showing a contraction simultaneously for the first time in around about two years. I think the basic message is: Where the U.S. goes, Europe fairly quickly follows.</s>MARCHINI: Well, let's hope that's true, because the U.S. is starting to look a little better these days. Christopher Swann of the "FT," thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Vodafone Distributes $4 Billion in Shares