BT begins placement of £1bn of shares to fund EE acquisition
BT is selling £1bn worth of shares to fund its £12.5bn deal for mobile network EE.
The new shares will be listed through an accelerated bookbuilding process to fund part of the cash element of the deal, the telecoms giant confirmed this morning.
The bookbuilding for the sale of 5p ordinary shares to institutional investors, representing around three per cent of BT’s outstanding share capital, will begin this morning after it first revealed plans to raise funds when the EE deal was agreed last week.
JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) and Goldman Sachs are acting as joint bookrunners on the placement, JP Morgan and BAML as joint corporate brokers and JP Morgan as sole global coordinator.
The placing is not conditional on the EE purchase being completed and the funds would be used for general corporate purposes if the deal failed to go through, BT said.
Shares are expected to be placed on 17 February.
In addition to cash, the EE deal will be funded through new ordinary shares issued to EE’s current owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange, giving Deutsche Telekom a 12 per cent stake in BT, while Orange will hold a four per cent stake.