The British government would thwart any attempt by Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal to raise his stake in telecom company BT, citing the need to uphold sovereign control over “critical national infrastructure”, according to media reports.
This will reduce the billionaire’s power over BT, whose Openreach broadband infrastructure division serves over 22 million British homes with fiber broadband.
Last week, it was revealed that Bharti Enterprises was looking to perhaps raise its stake in BT to just below the threshold required for it to submit a complete takeover attempt for the British Telecoms group.
According to a Bharti spokesperson, the company is happy with its current 24.95 per cent shareholding and “currently has no plans to increase its stake."
Gopal Vittal, the vice-chairman and managing director of Bharti Airtel and Mittal, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, joined the BT board in September as non-independent non-executive directors.
In order to avoid embarrassing situations, it was reported that the UK government aims to clarify its stance to significant foreign investors in advance of any future investments.
A formal assessment under the National Security and Investment Act, a quasi-judicial procedure, would be initiated if Bharti attempted to increase its holding beyond 25 per cent.
As a longtime investor in the UK, Mittal collaborated with the government on a 2020 plan to acquire OneWeb, a space startup that had failed. Following the disruption of its initial plan to float in the Middle East due to the Iran war, his Airtel Africa company is also considering floating its mobile money business in London.
Earlier, in August 2024, Mittal’s conglomerate had said it buy a 24.5 per cent stake in Britain’s largest broadband and mobile company, BT Group, worth about USD 4 billion.
Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, will buy 9.99 per cent stake in BT Group from Patrick Drahi’s Altice immediately and purchase the remainder after it had secured the necessary regulatory approvals, the firm said in a statement.
However, it did not disclose financial details but market watchers say that at BT’s valuation of roughly USD 15 billion dollars, the deal could be in the ballpark of USD 4 billion range.
Bharti, India’s second largest telecom operator with about 400 million subscribers, has had a relationship with BT previously as well. BT owned a 21 per cent stake in Bharti Airtel from 1997 to 2001.
