Shares of Cable & Wireless Worldwide Skyrocket as Vodafone Mulls Purchase

Shares of Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC, a U.K. telecommunication network provider, skyrocketed Monday as Vodafone Group PLC, the world's largest mobile provider, said it is considering a bid for the company.

Shares of C&W closed up 44.51 percent to £28.54 ($45.02) on the London Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, shares of Vodafone closed up 0.98 percent to £174.35 ($275.02) in London.

Vodafone may offer £700 million ($1.1 billion) for C&W Worldwide, The Sunday Times Reported. The newspaper also mentioned private equity firm Apax Partners LLP as a potential buyer.

Vodafone regularly reviews opportunities in the sector and confirms that it is in the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer for CWW, the company said in a statement Monday.

C&W Worldwide, based in Bracknell, declined to comment.

C&W Worldwide provides telecommunications services to businesses and government entities. It has recently been plagued by high management turnover. Current CEO Gavin Darby, the former CEO of Vodafone U.K., is the third head of the company in less than a year.

The company was spun off from Cable & Wireless Communications in 2010, and has since lost nearly three quarters of its value, not counting Monday trading.