BT shares fall back after India’s richest man denies takeover interest
Shares in BT retreated after having rallied as much as 10 per cent in early trading, after the company owned by India’s richest man denied a media report it was eyeing a bid for the British telecoms giant.
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries said: “We categorically deny any intent to bid for the UK telecoms group BT. The article is completely speculative and baseless.”
An article in India’s Economic Times had sparked BT’s share price jump, after it reported that Reliance could make a potential takeover offer for the business.
The report also said Reliance was in early stage negotiations over a potential partnership with BT to expand Openreach, its broadband network operator.
BT shares retreated to 6.23 per cent higher at 163p at lunchtime today.
It comes after the FTSE100 group clawed back its dividend in its interim results earlier this month and ramped up its cost-saving plans, in an effort to strengthen its defences against a possible takeover bid from its largest shareholder, Patrick Drahi.