Vodafone Group just managed to secure the 75 per cent level of support needed for its Kabel Deutschland bid to proceed, the company announced.

The operator said its offer attracted support from owners of 72.21 per cent of Kabel’s share capital by the 11 September deadline last week.

Taken together with its own stake of 4.27 per cent, Vodafone has support from shareholders with 76.48 per cent of the German company’s stock.

Other shareholders who have so far held out against Vodafone’s offer now have until 30 September to approve should they wish, in a further acceptance period.

The UK operator still faces the possibility of legal action from three hedge funds which are attempting to extract a higher price for their support.