Prior to this appointment, Thodey (pictured) spent 12 years at Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, including six years as CEO. Before this, he spent 22 years at IBM in a number of senior executive positions in marketing and sales across Asia Pacific, including CEO of IBM Australia and NZ.
"On behalf of the Board, I would like to warmly welcome David. He has extensive experience and a track record of strong operational performance in both the telecommunications and technology sectors. We look forward to the additional value he will bring to Board discussions," said Gerard Kleisterlee, chairman of Vodafone Group.
In addition, to this role, Thodey also holds non-executive director positions at Ramsay Health Care Ltd and Tyro Pty. He is also the chairman of the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, and was formerly a non-executive director of the GSM Association.
At the start of the month, Vodafone Group announced the sale Vodafone New Zealand to a consortium made up of Infratil Limited and Brookfield Asset Management. The consortium has agreed to acquire Vodafone New Zealand for an enterprise value of NZ$3.4bn (€2.1bn), which translates to 7.3 times adjusted EBITDA and 16.2 times adjusted operating free cash flow of 2019 financial year.
In addition, a few days earlier the company also entered into a definitive agreement with Telefónica Deutschland (Telefónica DE) for cable wholesale agreement in Germany. Under the terms of the agreement, Telefónica DE will be able to offer high-speed broadband services to customers on Vodafone and Unitymedia’s cable network in Germany. The agreement is subject to the completion of Vodafone’s acquisition of Liberty Global’s operations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, which is awaiting approval from the European Commission.
