Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes sign in Belo Horizonte.

Mannesmann AG was a German corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce seamless steel tubes. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. (Ticker symbol is MMN.) The company had approximatively 31,000 employees and revenues (1999) of 23.27 billion Euros.

Over time, Mannesmann purchased a lot of companies to become a diversified conglomerate. Amongst its subsidiaries was Hartmann und Braun, which has since been sold off to Elsag-Bailey which was subsequently purchased by ABB

[edit] Mannesmann Arcor

Mannesmann Arcor was Germany's second largest fixed line telephony and internet company. It is owned solely by Vodafone since May 2008, when Deutsche Bahn (18.17%) and Deutsche Bank (8.18%) sold their shares to Vodafone.^[1]

[edit] D2 Mannesmann

Mannesmann operated Germany's second cellular network carrier known as D2 Mannesmann. Mannesmann Mobilfunk was founded on 1990. This was the main competitor to Germany's incumbent carrier, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, also known as D1.

[edit] Acquisition by Vodafone

Mannesmann was acquired by Vodafone Group Plc. in 2000. This was a controversial takeover as never before in Germany had a large company been acquired by a foreign owner. This was a hostile takeover but the merger was backed in a private deal between Mannesmann management and Vodafone.

Under the terms of the deal Mannesmann sought assurances from Vodafone that the Mannesmann brand and name would be kept under the new owners^{[citation needed]}. This was agreed and the deal was announced. However not long after this, Vodafone went back on the deal and rebranded.

[edit] Rebranding to Vodafone

The name Mannesmann ceased to exist in telecommunication branch soon after the deal with Vodafone. As a result:

Mannesmann Arcor became Arcor

D2 Mannesmann became D2 Vodafone and subsequently Vodafone D2

The brand "Mannesmann" still lives on in the steel industry as a part of the Salzgitter AG, Vallourec-Mannesmann or Mannesmannröhren Logistic.

[edit] References

1. ^ "Vodafone übernimmt Arcor vollständig" (in German). Deutscher Depeschendienst. 19.05.2008. http://www.derNewsticker.de/news.php?id=9897. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Company info at answers.com

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