This is a small bright spot in Patrick Drahi’s financial woes. While Altice, the empire of the Franco-Israeli businessman, is threatened by more than 50 billion euros of debt, including 24 billion for the French part alone (SFR), BT is attracting new interests.
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Abandoned over the last two years, the British operator, of which Patrick Drahi holds 24.5% of the capital, has regained more than 40% on the London Stock Exchange since mid-May. His share is now worth £3.5 billion (€4.1 billion). At this rate, the owner of SFR will soon have recouped his costs: started in spring 2021, his purchases of BT shares cost him, in total, a little more than 3.7 billion pounds.
At the time, everyone was wondering about the irruption of Patrick Drahi into the capital of the British historic operator. What was he doing in this group facing stiff competition in Internet access and engaged in a very expensive optical fiber deployment plan, estimated at more than 20 billion pounds? Above all, without a representative on the board of directors, what levers could he hope to have over the management of BT? Today, the bet seems less insane: it is shared by Carlos Slim. This Mexican billionaire, 17e world fortune, according to the Bloomberg ranking, announced on June 12 that it had purchased 3.2% of the capital of BT.
Allison Kirkby’s management
At the headquarters of the British group, we welcome the arrival of Carlos Slim in the capital as “any investor who recognizes the long-term value of our company”. At 84 years old, the Mexican is a recognized and renowned telecoms specialist. His group, America Movil, is the leading South American operator, present in thirteen countries, with more than 280 million mobile subscribers. Carlos Slim is also present in Europe, as a shareholder in the Austrian Telekom Austria and six operators in Central Europe and the Balkans (Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia).
For BT, the interest of the Mexican telecoms magnate is seen as a sign of encouragement, at a time when Allison Kirkby, appointed managing director of the British group in February, begins to make her mark.
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Known for her ability to cut to the chase, the former head of Finnish operator Telia and Swedish Tele2 promised on May 16, during the presentation of the 2023-2024 annual results, to more than double the free cash flow in five years (free cash flow) and to increase the dividend to shareholders, while the peak of investments in optical fiber has passed and the cost reduction plan is well underway.
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