In a statement on Monday, Bharti said he has no intention of making a bid to buy control of Britain’s largest broadband and mobile phone company. Bharti also has no intention of taking a seat on the board, the chairman said. Sunil Mittal he told reporters.
The acquisition will be made by Bharti Global, the international arm of Bharti Enterprises, through Bharti Televentures. Under the terms of the deal, Bharti Televentures has acquired a 9.99% stake in the issued equity of BT Group through an open market transaction. It will buy the remaining 14.51% stake after obtaining regulatory clearances. Mittal expects the deal to close in the next few months.
“Funding is provided by Bharti Global…” Barclays has been the financial advisor on this transaction and provided cash immediately,” Mittal said.
Neither Mittal nor Bharti Enterprises specified the value of the stake purchase, but Mittal said the price was attractive and that BT was a company with revenues of $25 billion and EBITDA of $10 billion. He pointed to BT’s current market capitalisation as an indicative cost of the stake.
On Tuesday, BT shares rose 6.44% to 138.95 pounds, giving it a market capitalisation of about 13 billion pounds ($16.6 billion), from which the $4 billion figure was derived. The market capitalisation of Bharti Airtel, the telecom unit of Bharti Enterprises, stood at Rs 8,30,663.68 crore at the close of trading on Monday.
“I want Indian companies to become multinationals. They should have their subsidiaries elsewhere as well,” the Indian prime minister said. Narendra Modi posted on X, referring to the Bharti-BT deal.
Bharti is also voluntarily seeking UK National Security and Investment Act clearance, the company said in the statement.
“This investment demonstrates the confidence we have in BT and the UK,” Mittal said in the statement. “BT has a strong portfolio of market-leading brands, high-quality assets and an experienced management team with a compelling strategy, mandated by the BT Board, to deliver long-term value, which we fully support.”
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