Vodafone has until midnight today (11 September) to secure support from holders of 75 per cent of the shares in Kabel Deutschland if its €7.7 billion bid for Germany’s largest cable operator is to prove successful.

The mobile operator said in a statement yesterday (10 September) that it had the support of 20 per cent of Kabel shareholders.

If the 75 per cent target is not hit then Vodafone’s offer will lapse.

However shareholders often only tender their shares at the last minute in this type of situation, as they wait for a possible counter bid to emerge.

Doubts about Vodafone’s bid first surfaced over the weekend.

Vodafone has stuck to its guns about not increasing its €87 per share offer for the cable operator, despite the windfall it has received from selling its Verizon Wireless stake.

But Vodafone has come under pressure from Kabel’s largest shareholder, US hedge fund Elliott Management, which is pushing for a higher offer from the mobile operator giant. Last week Elliott said its stake in Kabel had reached 10.9 per cent.