When the London Stock Exchange began trading on the Monday morning of 31 Octo- ber, 2005, Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica’s £17.7bn (€25.9bn) cash bid for O2 pushed the UK-based mobile operator’s market value above that of its former parent, the mighty BT Group, for the fi rst time. O2 chief executive Peter Erskine had always told Europe’s news- paper reporters that he would experience “a great deal of quiet satisfaction” on the day when O2’s market value finally exceeded that of its former parent and Erskine’s old employer, the UK’s national telecoms operator, BT Group.

Via European Business