Significant milestone, says Sunil Mittal after buying stake in BT Group

The BT Group on Monday said Bharti Global's acquisition of a significant stake in the British telecom major is a "great vote of confidence" in the future of the company and its strategy.

Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, announced an agreement to acquire about 24.5 per cent in BT Group from Altice UK.

Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal described the investment in the "iconic" British company as a "significant milestone" for Bharti Enterprises.

"We welcome investors who recognise the long-term value of our business, and this scale of investment from Bharti Global is a great vote of confidence in the future of BT Group and our strategy," said Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive of the BT Group.

"BT has enjoyed a long association with Bharti Enterprises, and I'm pleased that they share our ambition and vision for the future of our business. They have a strong track record of success in the sector, and I look forward to ongoing and positive engagement with them in the months and years to come," she said.

The Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, also welcomed the deal as a sign of the strength of the India-UK technology partnership in a social media post.

"Delighted Bharti Global of India is investing in 24.5 per cent of the shares of UK's BT Group. This will support BT's plans to build fibre, roll out 5G and develop services. This vote of confidence in India-UK is a great step after the Technology Security Initiative," he said.

The bilateral Tech Security Initiative was agreed during UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy's visit to India last month.

According to a Bharti Enterprises statement, Bharti Televentures UK has entered into a binding agreement with Altice UK to acquire about 9.99 per cent stake of BT Group's issued capital imminently with the rest about 14.51 per cent of BT's share capital to be acquired post regulatory clearances. It is expected to make the Indian telecom giant the biggest shareholder in the British firm.

Bharti hopes the investment will further help create new synergies in the telecom sector between India and UK in the areas of AI and 5G R&D and core engineering among others, "offering great potential to collaborate on industry best practices and emerging technologies".

"Bharti and British Telecom (BT) have an enduring relationship going back more than two decades wherein BT owned 21 per cent stake along with two board seats in Bharti Airtel Limited from 1997-2001. Today marks a significant milestone in Bharti Group's history as we invest in BT an iconic British company," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises.

Although the statement did not divulge the size of the deal, market watchers say at BT's valuation of roughly USD 15 billion dollars, the deal could be in the ballpark of USD 4 billion.