BT Group shares advanced as much as 9.5% following a report that India’s Reliance Industries is weighing up a possible offer for the UK’s biggest phone company.
Reliance could make an unsolicited offer to buy into the company or even stake a claim for a controlling stake with some strategic shareholders open to cashing out at the right price, according a report by the Economic Times, citing people familiar with the matter it didn’t name.
A BT spokesman declined to comment.
Separately, the Mail on Sunday reported private equity firms and investment funds are assessing BT’s infrastructure division Openreach at valuations as high as £40-billion, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. BT’s current market capitalisation is £16.4-billion.
The speculation follows Altice, led by billionaire Patrick Drahi, acquiring a 12.1% stake in BT in June. A lock-up preventing Drahi, BT’s biggest shareholder, from pursuing a takeover ends next month.
Takeover talk has increasingly surrounded BT in recent years. Last September, the London-based carrier’s share price hit 11-year lows and that vulnerability had prompted the board to hire advisers. Private equity firms including CVC Capital Partners had studied the feasibility of a takeover, according to people familiar with the matter.
Reliance previously weighed a bid for a different European carrier, T-Mobile Netherlands, Bloomberg News reported in August. That group was ultimately bought by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Apax Partners. — Sam Unsted and Thomas Seal, (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP
