Vodafone to buy telematics firm Cobra in £115m deal

UK telecommunications firm Vodafone is planning to buy Italian telematics company Cobra Automotive Technologies in a deal valuing the company at €145m (£115m).

The company expects to complete the deal in the third quarter of 2014.

Cobra provides security and telematics solutions to the automotive and insurance industries. It has operations in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Its products include usage-based insurance, telematics and vehicle tracking.

Vodafone is offering €1.49 a share for Cobra. It has entered into an agreement with the main shareholders of Cobra, which own 73.96% of the company, to buy their shares. It expects to launch the offer in the coming weeks.

It has also struck a deal with minority shareholders owning 20% of Cobra’s telematics subsidiary to buy their holding for €20m.

Vodafone’s machine-to-machine unit director Erik Brenneis said: “The combination of Vodafone and Cobra will create a new global provider of connected car services. We plan to invest in the business to offer our automotive and insurance customers a full range of telematics services.”