Patrick Drai increased his stake in BT to 24.5% – Kommersant
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Altice UK, owned by French tycoon Patrick Drai, has bought 650 million shares of British telecommunications company BT Group for about £961 million ($1.2 billion), reports Reuters. With this deal, Altice increased its stake in BT from 18% to 24.5%.
Patrick Drai is BT’s largest shareholder and now owns twice the stake in the UK company as the nearest major investor. The French billionaire has been building up his stake in the British telecommunications company in stages, which has raised concerns among some in the British government. However, in August last year, the Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy decided not to stop Altice from increasing its stake in BT, not seeing this as a threat to national security.
Theoretically, Mr. Drai has the opportunity to increase his stake in BT to 30%, without assuming the obligation to buy out the British telecommunications giant, prescribed by law. But Altice noted that the current purchase of BT shares will be the last.
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