Vodafone shareholders are in line for a £3bn-plus dividend windfall following secret talks between the British company's boss, Vittorio Colao, and Ivan Seidenberg, head of US group Verizon Communications. The two men met in New York to discuss the future of Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, the US group's mobile subsidiary, which suspended dividend payments to Vodafone in 2005. The suspension was designed to force Vodafone to sell its holding in Verizon Wireless to Seidenberg for an estimated £33bn. But Vodafone has refused to sell, on the grounds that a sale would make it liable for a crushing capital gains tax bill of around £10bn. Instead, Colao has been pressing Seidenberg for a resumption of dividends in 2012, when Verizon Wireless finishes repaying a loan following its £20bn acquisition of rival Alltel in 2009. Seidenberg is understood to be sympathetic to Vodafone's position; the topic will be raised at a Verizon Communications board meeting in November.