The management and supervisory boards of Kabel Deutschland have backed Vodafone Group’s takeover offer, recommending the German cable operator’s shareholders accept it.

The offer of €87 per share is “fair” says a joint statement from the boards, pointing out that it represents an “attractive premium” of 37 per cent on the last price before takeover speculation surfaced.

It also argues that both companies will be strengthened by the takeover.

Vodafone and Kabel signed what was described as a business combination agreement prior to the announcement of the public tender on 24 June.

According to that document, Vodafone does not plan to cause “operation related redundancies or major location closures for its duration”. In addition, Kabel’s corporate headquarters will remain in its current location.

The partners hope to strengthen both their market positions. From Kabel’s point of view, it will take responsibility for the combined consumer fixed line business in Germany, including product development and marketing.

The two boards’ backing follows Vodafone’s launch of its public takeover offer to Kabel’s shareholders earlier in the week.

Its €87 offer is made up €84.50 of cash plus a proposed dividend of €2.50 dividend previously announced by Kabel on 20 February 2013.

Vodafone, unsurprisingly, views its offer as having an even greater premium to Kabel’s share price. It says it is 51 per cent higher than the weighted average for the three month period ending 12 February 2013.

The operator chose this date because it was the last undisturbed trading day before news articles were published asserting that Vodafone was interested in a takeover offer for Kabel.