Henry Riley 10pm - 1am
Patrick Drahi ups stake in BT to nearly 25%, but says he has no takeover plans
23 May 2023, 17:24
Altice UK, Mr Drahi’s telecoms investment group, has increased its shareholding in BT to 24.5% from 18%.
French-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi has increased his stake in BT to almost 25%, but insisted he has no plans to make a takeover offer for the telecoms group.
Altice UK, Mr Drahi’s telecoms investment group, said it had increased its shareholding in BT to 24.5% from 18%.
The move comes just days after BT unveiled a major cost-cutting overhaul that will see up to 55,000 jobs axed by the end of the decade amid plans to shift to artificial intelligence (AI) and automated services.
BT’s shares tumbled as much as 10% last Thursday when the plans were announced.
Altice said: “Altice UK has restated its position to the board of BT that it does not intend to make an offer for BT.”
Mr Drahi is now bound by UK City takeover rules preventing Altice from making an offer for BT for six months, unless circumstances change, such as if BT’s board agrees to a deal or if an offer is made for BT by another bidder.
Mr Drahi – who is also a majority owner of auction house Sotheby’s and controls SFR, France’s second-biggest telecoms company – has been building up a stake in BT since June 2021, when he bought a 12% holding.
He increased it to 18% later that year, sparking an investigation by the Government into Mr Drahi’s interests in BT over potential national security concerns.
But the Government said last August it would not demand a sell-off or block him from increasing his stake.
BT is investing heavily in British infrastructure, rolling out full fibre broadband across the country – a role seen as critical to the UK.
Its results last week showed a 12% drop in pre-tax profits to £1.7 billion over the past year, and a slight dip in revenues.
Under its plans to slash costs, it is aiming to reduce its workforce from around 130,000 currently to between 75,000 and 95,000 by the end of the 2020s.
It means between 40,000 and 55,000 roles could be cut over the five to seven-year period,
amounting to more than 40% of the total workforce.
Some 10,000 jobs will go as BT digitises, and as customers rely more on online and app-based communication rather than call centres for things like account servicing and upgrades.
Meanwhile, BT said it was “disappointed” after the European Union terminated a contract enabling it to handle the exchange of sensitive information between public authorities within the EU, known as Testa.
BT had been awaiting confirmation over the eight-year contract amid a dispute over whether the British firm should be able to access EU information following Brexit.
A spokesman said BT was disappointed with the cancellation and was considering its position.