VODAFONE has won shareholder approval to complete its £1.04 billion takeover of Cable and Wireless Worldwide (CWW) after Orbis Investment Management threw its weight behind the bid.

Bermuda-based Orbis has a 19.06% stake in CWW, which employs more than 100 people in Glasgow through its Thus subsidiary, and initially felt the 38 pence per share approach was too low. However, following a weekend of talks Orbis performed a U-turn and yesterday voted to approve the 38 pence per share deal at a shareholder meeting in London.

That led to more than 87% of voting shareholders, representing 99% of the shares, backing the deal.

Prior to the meeting almost 59% approval had been secured but Orbis falling into line took Vodafone above the 75% needed to progress with the acquisition which will see the company become the number two provider of telecoms in the UK behind BT. The fund manager backed down following talks over the weekend which led it to believe the takeover was certain to succeed even without its support.

Orbis said: "Our opposition would only serve to prolong the process because the company would likely adjourn the meetings to secure the necessary votes. This is not in the interests of any CWW stakeholder. Accordingly, Orbis intends to vote in favour of the scheme."

Analyst Nick Brown, of Espirito Santo Investment Bank, said: "Vodafone has taken advantage of CWW's shares trading at quite a depressed multiple at the time they came in with their bid.

"We believe that the value to Vodafone is around 50 pence if not north of that, depending on what they do with the company."

Vodafone is keen on using CWW's 20,500 kilometres of fibre cabling covering 400 towns and cities to relieve the strain smartphone users are placing on its wireless networks.

The addition of corporate customers such as Tesco should also aid Vodafone at a time of restrained consumer spending.

Analysts also believe CWW's 260,000 miles of undersea cables may be sold in a deal worth around £500m but Vodafone has stayed tight-lipped on the speculation.

The agreement still has to pass regulatory requirements but if approved dealing in CWW shares will be suspended on July 25. A court date to approve the scheme of arrangement will follow the next day with the takeover formally expected to complete on July 27.

CWW said: "If the scheme becomes effective on 27 July 2012, it will be binding on all CWW shareholders, whether or not they attended or voted in favour of the scheme and the special resolution at the meetings."

Indian firm Tata Communications walked away from takeover discussions earlier this year, leaving Vodafone as the sole runner.

CWW, headed by chief executive Gavin Darby since November last year, has seen its shares fluctuate between a high of 98.5 pence and a low of 13p since it split from its Caribbean-based telecoms arm in 2010.

It had bought the former FTSE-100 member Thus, previously called Scottish Telecom, for £329m in 2008. Shares in CWW ended the day up almost 8% at 37.77p with Vodafone's also up 0.69% at 174.9p.