BT: shares jump on report of talks to sell Openreach stake

(CercleFinance.com) - BT shares jumped over 9% on Friday after a report that the British telecommunications company was in talks to sell a "multibillion-pound stake" in its infrastructure arm Openreach.


According to the Financial Times, BT is in talks to sell a stake in its Openreach division to "infrastructure investors" in a move that would bankroll a 12 billion pound upgrade of Britain's broadband network.

Analysts at UBS said that the deal could value BT's network unit at about 20 billion pounds.

"The report mentions that potential buyers include Macquarie and a sovereign wealth fund that have held early stage talks with BT in recent weeks," the broker noted.

UBS believes, however, that a deal is unlikely as BT's CEO recently bought two million shares of the operator, which would not be possible if management was in possession of inside information.

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