Mannesmann, the German telecommunications and engineering group, yesterday suffered a blow in its campaign to see off a takeover by Vodafone AirTouch when a London High Court judge threw out its attempt to prevent Goldman Sachs acting as adviser to the British-based telecoms company.
In a strongly worded judgment, Mr Justice Lightman condemned the conduct and integrity of both Mannesmann and senior director Mr Kurt Kinzius in bringing the action to court.
On the eve of an expected new bid from Vodafone that could value Mannesmann at as much as €121.2 billion (£95.5 billion), the judge said Mr Kinzius had given the court "totally false" evidence. Mannesmann had claimed Goldman had broken a promise not to help Vodafone initiate a hostile bid against it and had possession of confidential information supplied by the German group.
With Vodafone's board meeting late yesterday afternoon to thrash out details of a second and improved offer for Mannesmann, the judge said the German company's claims about the assurances and allegations of the bank possessing confidential information were completely without foundation.
Mr Klaus Esser, Mannesmann chairman, accepted there had been a "severe mistake" in the company's evidence. But he denied the judgment would weaken Mannesmann's hand in a possible takeover battle with Vodafone.
