Liberty Global has acquired a 5 per cent stake in Vodafone Group Plc. The company bought 1.34 billion Vodafone shares (approximately 4.93 per cent) through a deal involving £225 million in equity funding from the group. Liberty Global owns half of Virgin Media O2, a major Vodafone rival in its home market, and has operations in Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland and Slovakia. Liberty Global is now Vodafone’s third-largest shareholder after the UAE-based telecoms company e& and American investment group BlackRock.