As announced yesterday, after three months of bargaining, the German conglomerate MANNESMANN has finally accepted the bid by Britain's VODAFONE, the largest ever corporate takeover in history. The merged entity will be the world's biggest telecommunications operator, outranking DEUTSCHE TELEKOM, BT and FRANCE TELECOM. It will also be the leading mobile phone operator with 33.2 million subscribers and stock market capitalisation of around GBP 207 billion. VODAFONE's shareholders will own 50.5% of the venture, and MANNESMANN's 49.5%. The new bid finally accepted by MANNESMANN values the group at EUR 181.4 billion. Under the agreement, VODAFONE will keep MANNESMANN's fixed telephony activities while ORANGE, acquired last autumn by MANNESMANN, will be sold to avoid competiton problems. See, among others, EI of yesterday and of 26 October 1999.