Drahi boosts stake in BT to 24.5%, will not make an offer

LONDON: Billionaire Patrick Drahi has increased his stake in BT to 24.5% but reiterated that he does not plan a full takeover for Britain’s biggest telecoms group.

The Franco-Israeli entrepreneur has since 2021 been adding to a position in Britain’s 175-year-old former monopoly BT, betting that its $20 billion investment in a new national fibre network will succeed in the long-term.

The network BT is building is viewed as critical national infrastructure by the British government, and it has in the past warned it would intervene to protect the roll-out of that network by the telecoms group if needed.