BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A)’s share price edged up by 2% on Tuesday following a high-profile transfer of ownership of a significant portion of BT’s outstanding shares.
Indian multinational Bharti, which owns Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel, finalised its purchase of a 24.5% stake in BT from US competitor Altice.
The transfer of shares was disclosed in regulatory statements published by BT on Monday.
One showed that Bharti Televentures UK Limited, a London-based subsidiary of Bharti Global, increased its voting stake from 9.99% to 24.5%, or roughly 2.44 billion BT shares.
Another showed that Altice reduced its stake from 14.78% to 0%.
The purchase, first announced in August, makes Bharti BT’s largest shareholder.
Bharti’s effective ownership of nearly a quarter of BT raises the question of whether it has designs to increase its stake even further.
As India’s fifth-largest corporation with an £85 billion valuation, Bharti Airtel is certainly in a position to consider the prospect, but it’s probably not on the agenda, according to Deutsche Bank’s head of European TMT research Robert Grindle.
“We do not expect an offer for BT and are unmoved with regard to our stock view as one strategic investor is replaced by another,” he said in response to the share transfer.
BT’s £14.5 billion net debt (excluding leases) is likely to temper any potential suitors’ appetites, as would BT’s funding obligations for Britain’s full-fibre rollout.
BT shares are currently swapping for 147.5p each with a market capitalisation of £14.7 billion, giving BT an enterprise value of nearly £30 billion.