Attractive buy, good long-term investment: Sunil Mittal on Bharti's stake acquisition in BT
Sunil Mittal on Monday said the conglomerate's decision to acquire a 24.5 per cent stake in BT Group marks a «good, long-term investment» and an «attractive buy», citing the British company's strong portfolio of home broadband, fibre, mobile and enterprise offerings.
Mittal, a telecom industry stalwart, exuded confidence about the investment and business prospects of BT and indicated that while the priority, for now, is to understand the company and the UK market in-depth, «if there are more opportunities in Europe, we will certainly be open to it in future».
On Bharti's decision to buy a 24.5 per cent stake in BT Group — a move that would make it the single largest shareholder in Britain's largest broadband and mobile company — Mittal said: «I think this is a very attractive buy… the UK and European telecom companies are trading at low multiples...so given the cash flow expectations of BT, we believe this is going to be a good investment, and it is a long-term investment.
Earlier on Monday, Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, announced it will acquire about 24.5 per cent stake in BT Group from Altice UK. Although Bharti did not divulge the size of the transaction, the deal is estimated to be the ballpark figure of USD 4 billion.
Sunil Mittal's son Shravin Bharti Mittal, Managing Director of Bharti Global, highlighted that this was a «rare opportunity to buy a stake this size».
«BT is exciting for a couple of reasons. It has a perfect combination of a stable cash flow profile
