Indian billionaire mulls expanding BT stake
Indian telecoms billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal is reportedly considering boosting his stake in BT, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Mittal already holds a 24.5 per cent stake in BT, which he bought from Luxembourg-based telecoms giant Altice – previously owned by Patrick Drahi.
The expanded stake would continue to be held through his Bharti Enterprises multinational conglomerate.
After taking an initial ten per cent holding in the UK telecoms firm, he received national security approvals in December which allowed him to expand his stake to 24.5 per cent.
Mittal reportedly increased his stake via derivatives contracts and has since been converting the position into equity.
Should the Indian billionaire’s stake increase to 30 per cent or more, he would be required to make an offer for the whole of BT under UK rules.
Allison Kirkby, BT’s CEO since 2024, told The Times in February that Bharti is “not going to be a passive shareholder”, and that the billionaire will “want results quickly”.
“He definitely will have a lot to add considering the business that he has built in India and internationally”.
The new CEO is currently on a cost-cutting drive at BT, and BT’s share price has risen more than 50 per cent since she took the reins at the company.
Back in November BT scaled back its projections for the year, reporting that adjusted revenue had declined three per cent in the six months to September to £10.1bn.
The difficulties were put down at the time to “challenging conditions in business, principally driven by non-UK trading in our global and portfolio channels”, and the news caused BT shares to dip 3.9 per cent.
In December, BT managed to defend itself against a major £1.3bn class action lawsuit over allegations that landline customers were “disproportionately overcharged” by the firm.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) had ruled in BT’s favour, declaring that landline prices “were not unfair, and therefore there was no abuse of dominant position”.
A spokesperson for Bharti told the FT the company “currently has no plans to buy any further stake above the 24.5 per cent already disclosed”. BT declined to comment when asked by the FT.