BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A) shares fell after it announced that Sunil Bharti Mittal, along with Bharti Airtel boss Gopal Vittal, will join the board of the FTSE 100 group as the Indian billionaire follows up on his Bharti vehicle buying a 24.5% stake last year from France's Patrick Drahi.
BT said Mittal, founder and chairman of Barti Enterprises, and Gopal Vittal, vice chairman and MD of Bharti Airtel, have both been appointed non-independent non-executive directors, with Mittal joining the board's nominations committee.
The company said the appointments are part of a new "relationship agreement" with Bharti Global, which allows it to nominate two board representatives as long as it continues to hold a 20%-plus stake.
If the stake falls to between 10% and 20% this will fall to one board representative.
BT shares dropped 3.4% to 198.7p, further retreating from July's six-year highs above 220p.
Chairman Adam Crozier said new appointees brought “significant experience and global perspectives in the telecoms industry”.
For his part, Mittal said he was “delighted” to join the board of an “iconic company delivering critical infrastructure and services for the UK”, while Vittal described BT’s assets as offering “valuable opportunities for growth”.
Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, has a track record of major UK investments, including helping support satellite operator OneWeb, now merged with Eutelsat.
Airtel, Bharti’s flagship company, is one of the world’s largest mobile operators, with over 600 million customers across 15 countries in India and Africa.
Shares in Airtel Africa PLC (LSE:AAF), the FTSE 100 group where Bharti Airtel and wider Bharti family investment entities own a controlling stake, fell 1.3%.