Great Vote of Confidence: BT Group Hails Bharti Group's Investment in British Telecom

London, August 12: 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. Bharti Global Reaches Agreement To Buy 24.5% Stake in UK Telecom Giant BT Group for USD 4 Billion.

"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 (TSI) was agreed during UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy's visit to India last month.

The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) in London said the Bharti investment was evidence of the importance of the initiative, which creates a framework to deepen technology partnerships across governments, industry and academia. UKIBC Managing Director Kevin McCole said: "This investment by Bharti Global is a vote of confidence in the UK's digital economy, and further evidence of the strong UK-India partnership, particularly in technology-rich sectors like telecom. Mittal Cites BT's Market Leadership, Strong Portfolio; Says Bharti Made Good, Long-term Investment.

"We expect to see more technology-driven UK-India deals, and hope that the UK-India FTA (Free Trade Agreement) will support the aims of the TSI by having supportive chapters on IP and cross-border data flows.” Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, which also holds a stake in BT, noted: “We see this as a positive step for BT. We have a long and good working relationship with Bharti.

"So we are looking forward to work together with Bharti in the Board of Directors for the sake of BT shareholders and customers." 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.

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