BT taps market for £1bn to get EE
BT RAISED around £1bn through a share placing with institutional investors yesterday to help fund its £12.5bn takeover of mobile phone operator EE.
The shares, equivalent to about three per cent of BT’s outstanding issuance, were priced at 455p, slightly below yesterday’s opening price of 458.7p.
BT said the placing is not conditional on the EE purchase being completed and the funds would be used for general corporate purposes if the deal failed to go through.
JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs acted as joint bookrunners on the placement – JP Morgan and BAML as joint corporate brokers and JP Morgan as sole global coordinator.
Shares are expected to be placed on 17 February.
In addition to the cash portion of the deal, the EE takeover will also be funded through new ordinary shares issued to EE’s current owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange, giving Deutsche Telekom a 12 per cent stake in BT, while Orange will hold a four per cent stake.
BT shares closed down 2.17 per cent at 450p yesterday. The company this week won the right to broadcast Premier League games for three more years from 2016.
BEHIND THE DEAL
ED BYERS JP MORGAN CAZENOVE
1 Byers is head of diversified industries EMEA at the bank, a position he took up in 2013 after five years as head of UK corporates
2 He was nominated for dealmaker of the year at City A.M.’s awards in 2013 for his work with client Invensys and a £3.4bn offer from Schneider Electric
3 The former Cazenove partner has held a variety of roles at JPM, including co-head of equity capital markets (2001) and head of diversified industries for the UK (2005)
Also advising…
JP’s head of TMT Hugo Baring worked on the deal alongside head of equity capital markets for the UK Greg Chamberlain. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were also involved.