British Telecom Company BT Is in Exclusive Talks to Buy EE
LONDON - The British telecommunications company BT said on Monday that it had entered into exclusive talks to acquire the British mobile phone business of Orange of France and Deutsche Telekom of Germany.
Orange and Deutsche Telekom confirmed last month that they were in early stage discussions to sell their joint venture EE to BT, Britain's former telecommunications monopoly. They said the business is valued at about 12.5 billion pounds, or about $19.6 billion.
'The period of exclusivity will last several weeks allowing BT to complete its due diligence and for negotiations on a definitive agreement to be concluded,' BT said in a news release on Monday.
BT, which operates an extensive cable and fixed-line network across Britain, is looking to expand its mobile offerings as other carriers have been branching out into broadband and television services.
BT had also been talking about possibly acquiring the mobile provider O2, which is owned by the Spanish company Telefónica.
EE has 24.5 million mobile customers and posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 1.59 billion pounds, or about $2.49 billion, for the 12 months ended June 30.
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