Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao has denied he is planning a colossal takeover of Liberty Global, the owner of Virgin Media. In a marathon meeting with major shareholders earlier this week, Colao sought to dampen claims that he will respond to BT's efforts to acquire a mobile network by swooping for fixed-line assets across Europe such as Liberty Global. Mr Colao said he would "happily" look at an acquisition of Liberty Global's German cable network, if controlling shareholder John Malone wished to sell.