An extraordinary supervisory board meeting of broadband service provider Arcor won''t lead to any decision about a buyout of Arcor''s minority shareholders by majority stakeholder Vodafone, a Vodafone Germany spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday.

Labor union Transnet has asked for the supervisory board meeting, scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Duesseldorf, in order to ask questions about the future of Arcor, the spokesman said. But he added that there is no news concerning a buyout.

Vodafone, the world''s largest mobile phone operator by revenue, already has a 74% stake in Arcor, but is close to agreeing a deal with minority shareholders Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank for the rest of the company. Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank hold 18% and 8% of Arcor, respectively.

"Vodafone is close to agreeing a price of around EUR500 million with the companies and it could close by as early as the end of April," a person familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires earlier this week.

Deutsche Bahn spokesman Jens-Oliver Voss Monday said "we are in negotiations," but declined to elaborate further. Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Vodafone Germany Chief Executive Friedrich Joussen told Dow Jones Newswires that all parties had come closer in their asking price and that a settlement could take place within a short period of time.

Vodafone has been building out its fixed-line telephony assets in Europe over the past year, as part of an effort to gain more revenue from broadband services. Late last year Vodafone bought the Italian and Spanish assets of Tele2 in an all-cash deal worth EUR767 million.

Arcor, which provides broadband and fixed-line services to customers in Germany, had 2.48 million broadband customers at the end of 2007, according to the company''s most recent figures. In fiscal-year 2007, Arcor had sales of EUR2.13 billion and posted a 9.5% rise in sales in the first nine months of fiscal-year 2008 up to Dec. 31.

Transnet is one of Deutsche Bahn''s labor unions, while Vodafone''s labor union in Germany is IG Metall. Vodafone''s German unit was founded by industrial company Mannesmann and bought by Vodafone in 2000.



Source:Dow Jones