VZ

RAIDERS LINKED TO BID FOR VODAFONE'

Today's DAILY MAIL (U.K.) reports that documents circulating in London suggest that a consortium including Verizon, Spain's Telefonica and private equity firm Blackstone hope to find funding for a bid for Vodafone that would value the company at Pounds 96 billion. Reporting that JP Morgan Cazenove is thought to be masterminding the plan, the article notes that sources say that the bid..if successful..would lead to a complicated breakup, with Verizon taking control of Vodafone's U.S. and U.K. assets, Telefonica is said to be interested in Vodafone's remaining European activities, and Blackstone and other private equity firms would carve up the rest. A wire story from DOW JONES NEWS (4/10) summarizes the Daily Mail article, with a separate news brief from the wire service reporting that Blackstone denied the report of a consortium bid for Vodafone.