Vodafone shares climb as Iliad proposes Italian merger 

Reuters exclusively reported that French telecoms group Iliad was preparing to submit a joint venture proposal with Vodafone Italy, the subsidiary of the UK group. Shares in Vodafone, which said last month it was reviewing options in Italy, rose 6.6% on the joint-venture proposal, which Reuters first reported on Friday. The deal would be one of the biggest in Europe in the telecoms sector. Iliad, which only launched in Italy six years ago, said the merged business would be expected to generate revenues of around 5.8 billion euros ($6.34 billion).