Altice UK Buys 650 Million Shares in BT; Says It Won't Make Bid for the Company -- Update
23 May 2023 - 05:38PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Hoppe
Patrick Drahi's Altice UK said Tuesday that it has purchased a
further 650 million shares in BT Group for around 961 million
pounds ($1.20 billion), bringing its' ownership up to around 24.5%
of the company's issued share capital.
The telecommunications and mass media company--established and
wholly-owned by French billionaire Patrick Drahi--said it has
restated its position to the board of BT that it doesn't plan to
make an offer for the company and will be bound by that statement
under U.K. takeover rules.
Based on BT's closing share price of 147.85 pence on Monday,
this implies Altice's new purchase is worth around GBP961 million.
Its full stake is now worth around GBP3.60 billion.
Altice purchased a 12.1% stake in BT in June 2021. It increased
its stake to 18% later that year, prompting a U.K. government
decision to investigate the purchase on national security grounds,
though the government decided not to take action in mid-2022.
Shares in BT at 0703 GMT were up 0.9 pence, or 0.6% at 148.75
pence.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 23, 2023 03:23 ET (07:23 GMT)
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