Vodafone should sell out of Australia: UBS Investment bank UBS says Australia is an "obvious disposal candidate" for Vodafone. Vodafone Group could sell out Australia for £1.47 billion ($2.73 billion) to focus on European and Asian growth businesses, according to research from Swiss investment bank UBS. UBS head of European media and telecoms research Polo Tang told clients that the UK-based Vodafone Group was at a crossroads. Where some parts of the company are earning more cash and could use extra investment, others were lagging behind. He said Vodafone Hutchison Australia was "struggling" and a prime candidate for sale along with several other divisions. It is jointly-owned by UK-based Vodafone Group and Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Limited. "We think acquisitions by Vodafone could be limited near term and that it could focus on divestments," Mr Tang said. The most obvious disposal candidates are the operations in Australia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, given that Vodafone has relatively weak positions in each. Australia is a joint venture with Hutchison and the unit has been struggling in recent years. He said selling off the obvious candidates, including Australia, would give the parent company £4 billion ($7.4 billion) that could then be reinvested into businesses with better potential for growth. Vodafone's stake in its Australian operations alone would be worth $2.73 billion. Based on the likelihood of a sale and other measures, UBS upgraded its rating of Vodafone Group to a Buy with a 260p per share price target. This helped push the company to a six-week high on the London Stock Exchange. However Mr Tang did not provide any suggestions on which party would be interested in buying the Australian business. The joint-venture nature of Vodafone Australia means all major decisions must be accepted and funded by both parties, which in turn makes it less attractive to potential buyers. Telstra's dominance of the local mobile market and SingTel-Optus' position in second place means it is hard for a third-placed player to turn a profit. Vodafone Australia suffered major network failures in 2011 that resulted in an exodus of customers with over 2 million subscribers jumping to its rivals over the past two years. The company is still losing customers despite previous chief executive Bill Morrow pledging that subscriber growth would bounce back to positive levels by mid-2014. But the rate of decline has slowed and the company began a three year turnaround plan under Mr Morrow that is due to be completed by 2015. His replacement Iñaki Berroeta has spent almost $1 billion in the past 12 months alone to help fix the network and catch its rivals. Its new strategy to boost brand power by partnering with companies like Spotify and Fairfax Media, which is being driven by Vodafone Australia general manager of postpaid Stephen Smyth, has also been praised by analysts.