Vodafone, the embattled telecoms group, has re-recruited Vittorio Colao, a former company executive and one-time candidate for the top job, as its new deputy chief executive.
He will also run its flagship European division following the abrupt departure in July of Bill Morrow for personal reasons.
Mr Colao becomes deputy chief of the Vodafone group after the retirement of Sir Julian Horn-Smith at the annual shareholder’s meeting earlier this year. He starts work on October 9.
Mr Colao, who was regional boss for southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Vodafone, quit the telecoms group in July 2004 having lost out to Arun Sarin in the race to be group chief executive.
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He was also the head of Vodafone Italy and a member of the board of directors for two years between 2002 and 2004.
In some quarters, Mr Colao, who is a well-respected telecoms executive, is still seen as a potential replacement for Mr Sarin, who has come under pressure to revitalise company strategy and revive the ailing share price.
Having been at Vodafone since it took over Omnitel Pronto Italia, which he joined in 1996, Mr Colao left in July 2004 to join RCS Mediagroup of Italy. He left that company in July.
When approached then by The Times, Mr Colao refused to rule out his potential future interest in the group chief executive’s job should it become free.
“Of course I will think of every national and international post at this point,” he said at the time.
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As he welcomed the appointment of Mr Colao, Mr Sarin said today: “Vittorio made an outstanding contribution in his previous roles at Vodafone and he is a highly effective manager. We have a number of major challenges and opportunities in our European region and I am confident that, given his background and experience, Vittorio is well-equipped to succeed in this key position.”
Sir John Bond, the new chairman of Vodafone, also welcomed Mr Colao.
The Times also reported that Mr Colao was Mr Morrow’s most likely replacement.
The departure of Mr Morrow, who returned to America for family reasons, came at an unfortunate time for Mr Sarin, who was pushing through the division of the group into three separate units, one of them for Europe under Mr Morrow’s leadership.
It also came ahead of crunch shareholder votes, eventually won by Vodafone, over the re-election of several executives, including Mr Sarin, as well as controversial new performance targets for bonus payments.
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Shares in Vodafone closed last night at 114p, valuing the group at just over £60 billion. For more on the shares click here