The 124 billion euro ($128.5 billion) bid by Britain's Vodafone AirTouch Plc is the largest-ever hostile takeover bid. It has been a shock for Germany, where firms are more used to taking over foreign companies than finding themselves targets for companies abroad.

The bid for Mannesmann, now forging success in mobile telephones, has raised the hackles of German politicians of every political hue. "Mannesmann in Duesseldorf should not become a regional subsidiary of a London firm," Wolfgang Clement, a Social Democrat ally of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said on Sunday."