On Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:49:38 +0100, "Andy Pandy"
<spam8times@wonderful.spam.invalid> wrote:

>
>"Chris Blunt" <mail@nospam.com> wrote in message
>news:rt0j55lgmgqd2c2d2al8ras57h1bevof9k@4ax.com.. .
>> On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:14:08 +0100, rousseau <invalid@invalid.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Chris Blunt wrote:
>> >
>> >> On Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:14:09 +0100, "Andy Pandy"
>> >> <spam8times@wonderful.spam.invalid> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>>
>> >>>"Chris Blunt" <mail@nospam.com> wrote in message
>> >>>news:jijj45dr4gc1h38710jtsk781b93jb0k87@4ax.com ...
>> >>>> On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:27:02 +0100, rousseau
><invalid@invalid.invalid>
>> >>>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> >Early days, I know, but if the mooted takeover of T-Mobile UK by
>> >>>> >Vodafone goes ahead, would I have grounds for cancelling my contract
>> >>>> >without penalties?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On what basis? A change in ownership of T-Mobile would not affect the
>> >>>> validity of any existing agreements that the company had entered
>into.
>> >>>
>> >>>Does this work the other way round too? Can I take out a contract and
>then
>> >>>transfer ownership of that contract to my mate who has an appalling
>credit
>> >>>history?
>> >>
>> >> Your contract is not being transferred to another company. Your
>> >> agreement was, and still is with T-Mobile. The only thing that might
>> >> be changing is the ownership of T-Mobile.
>> >
>> >And one of the deciding factors when I take out a contract (i.e. buying
>> >anything) is the ownership of that company. If it changes hands to
>someone
>> >else I don't see why I should be obliged to continue that relationship if
>I
>> >don't like the new owners.
>>
>> You are legally obliged to continue the relationship because you
>> signed a binding contract with the company. If you wanted the right to
>> cancel a contract if ownership of the company changed then you should
>> have made sure that a clause to that effect was included in your
>> contract.
>>
>> Ownership of any publicly listed company changes on a daily basic as
>> various people buy and sell shares in them. How could any company
>> possibly continue to function if every agreement they had entered into
>> was subject to cancellation every time someone bought or sold their
>> shares?
>
>OK, so what if Vodafone decide to take over all contracts and close down
>T-Mobile, like TalkTalk have done with several telcos like Tele2 and OneTel.
>
>Presumably then he is not binded by a contract he signed with T-Mobile.

Vodafone would need to take a look at what existing agreements were in
place with T-Mobile before doing anything. They should become aware of
what commitments T-Mobile had entered into while carrying out due
diligence on the company. The wording of customers contracts may
include a clause that allows the contract to be assigned to their
"heirs and successors", or something to that effect.

My guess is that they would probably retain the T-Mobile brand name
and company structure anyway for some time after they bought it, and
gradually incorporate it into Vodafone later on.

Chris